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About CRE FO

Built for Real Estate Owner-Operators

Senior financial leadership for real estate owner-operators where capital decisions materially shape outcomes.
Managing multi-entity portfolios and complex capital structures.
Start with a CRE FO Diagnostic

Why CRE FO Exists

CRE FO was founded by a career real estate CFO and CPA who has operated inside complex, cross-asset portfolios spanning multifamily, office, retail, mixed-use, hospitality, and development.

Across institutional platforms and owner-operator environments, the same pattern repeated: capital decisions were being made on delayed, incomplete, or distorted financial information, while operating complexity and leverage exposure continued to increase.

As portfolios scaled, the gap between accounting output and decision-grade financial leadership widened. Reporting accuracy alone was not sufficient to govern capital allocation, liquidity risk, covenant exposure, or long-term value creation.

CRE FO exists to close that gap by embedding senior financial leadership directly into the decision environment, aligning capital strategy, operating reality, and execution discipline so leadership teams can act with clarity, speed, and confidence when outcomes materially matter.

Ben Farbowitz, CPA

Ben is a career real estate finance executive with over 15 years of experience operating inside complex, multi-entity portfolios spanning multifamily, office, retail, mixed-use, hospitality, and development.

His career spans real estate audit at BDO, transaction advisory and due diligence at KPMG, and CFO roles at institutional real estate platforms and family offices. He is a licensed CPA in the State of New York, holds a Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from the University at Buffalo.

Ben is a founding member of Fractionals on Deck, a community of independent commercial real estate fractional executives.

FAQs

Yes, when systems constrain visibility or decision quality. CRE FO guides architecture, data standards, and reporting logic in collaboration with specialists. The objective is ensuring the financial stack supports decision integrity, not managing software deployments.
The Diagnostic is fixed-fee. Ongoing engagements are structured based on complexity, decision cadence, and the level of embedded leadership required. CRE FO is not priced hourly and is not positioned for transactional, task-based, or low-leverage support.
An embedded CFO relationship aligned to the platform’s decision cadence, capital activity, and operating risk profile. The cadence evolves as the business scales, capital structures change, and governance requirements mature.
You work directly with the principal CFO leading the engagement. There is no delivery handoff to junior staff or rotating teams. This preserves continuity, accountability, and consistent judgment throughout the engagement.
When a platform is approaching a capital event, scaling faster than its financial infrastructure, or carrying financial risk that leadership cannot clearly quantify or govern.
Yes. Every engagement begins with a Diagnostic. The Diagnostic establishes financial reality, clarifies risk exposure, and produces a prioritized decision roadmap. It ensures alignment before execution begins and prevents premature solutioning.
A short, focused engagement designed to produce actionable clarity. Most Diagnostics are completed within several weeks, depending on portfolio complexity, data readiness, and decision scope.
Based on the Diagnostic findings, clients either proceed into a focused execution sprint, an ongoing embedded partnership, or implement independently. The Diagnostic creates a clear decision roadmap regardless of next steps.
No. CRE FO provides senior financial leadership, not accounting execution. Internal accounting teams and external providers remain responsible for transaction processing, close, compliance, and reporting production.
A bookkeeper records transactions. A CPA manages compliance and tax. A fractional CFO owns the financial decisions that sit above both. For real estate owner-operators, that means cash visibility across entities, capital timing, lender relationships, covenant exposure, and the financial story that has to hold up under scrutiny. CRE FO does not replace your bookkeeper or CPA. It provides the senior financial leadership layer they are not designed to deliver.

A consultant diagnoses a problem and delivers a report. A fractional CFO stays in the business and owns the outcome. The difference is accountability. Consultants hand off. A fractional CFO embedded in your platform participates in the decisions, lives with the consequences, and adjusts as conditions change. For real estate owner-operators, where capital decisions compound and timing risk is real, that continuity is the point.

Commercial real estate creates financial complexity that generic corporate finance is not built for. Multi-entity structures, path-dependent returns, lender covenants, capital timing risk, and volatile operating cycles require a different operating model than standard FP&A. A fractional CFO embedded in a CRE platform brings senior financial leadership to the decisions that materially impact outcomes, without the cost or overhead of a full-time hire. For owner-operators approaching a capital event, scaling faster than their financial infrastructure, or carrying risk they cannot clearly quantify, it is often the highest-leverage financial decision they can make.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Start with a CRE FO Diagnostic
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