Agent skill

Real Assets

by JoelLewis in JoelLewis/finance_skills

Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets.

MITAuto-check passedBusiness, Finance & HR

Install Real Assets

skills CLI
$ npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill real-assets -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install JoelLewis/finance_skills real-assets --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/wealth-management/skills/real-assets .claude/skills/real-assets && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
real-assets
GitHub stars
206
Token cost
~2k tokens
SKILL.md length
930 words
Files
2 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
91
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets.

  • The user asks about real estate investing
  • SKILL.md covers Core Concepts, Direct Real Estate vs REITs:…, Key Formulas and Worked Examples, plus 3 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder; calls uv, python3 and pip
  • Property valuation

What it does

Real Assets is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets. Use when the user asks about real estate investing, REITs, cap rates, NOI, FFO, AFFO, property valuation, or infrastructure investments. Also trigger when users mention 'rental property analysis', 'cash-on-cash return', 'gross rent multiplier', 'REIT dividends', 'real estate sectors', 'cell towers', 'toll roads', 'LTV ratio', 'DSCR', or ask whether to invest in real estate directly or through…

Its SKILL.md is about 2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including scripts (for example `scripts/real_assets.py`).

It sits in Business, Finance & HR, covering Real estate. The repository describes itself as: Claude Code skill plugins for financial services — 81 skills across 7 domain plugins covering investment management, compliance, advisory practice, trading, and operations. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks about real estate investing
  • Property valuation
  • Infrastructure investments
  • Users mention rental property analysis

Example prompts

  • “rental property analysis”
  • “cash-on-cash return”
  • “gross rent multiplier”
  • “/real-assets”

Requirements

  • Python 3

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5c498ea. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • uv
    • python3
    • pip

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use uv and pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Real Assets loads about 2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 134 tokens; SKILL.md has 930 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~134
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from JoelLewis/finance_skills at commit 5c498ea, republished under its MIT licence (© JoelLewis). 930 words, ~1,977 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/real-assets/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
real-assets
description
Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets. Use when the user asks about real estate investing, REITs, cap rates, NOI, FFO, AFFO, property valuation, or infrastructure investments. Also trigger when users mention 'rental property analysis', 'cash-on-cash return', 'gross rent multiplier', 'REIT dividends', 'real estate sectors', 'cell towers', 'toll roads', 'LTV ratio', 'DSCR', or ask whether to invest in real estate directly or through REITs.

Real Assets

Core Concepts

Property Income and Return Metrics
  • NOI (Net Operating Income): effective gross rental income (after vacancy) minus operating expenses; excludes debt service, capex, and depreciation.
  • Cap rate: NOI divided by property value — the unlevered property yield; lower cap rates mean higher valuations.
  • Income-approach value: NOI divided by the prevailing cap rate for comparable properties.
  • Cash-on-cash return: annual pre-tax cash flow (NOI minus debt service) divided by total cash invested — the levered equity yield.
  • GRM (Gross Rent Multiplier): price divided by gross annual rent; a quick screen that ignores expenses, vacancy, and financing.
REITs and REIT Metrics

REITs must distribute 90%+ of taxable income as dividends and trade on exchanges like equities. Sectors include residential, office, retail, industrial, data center, healthcare, self-storage, and specialty.

  • FFO (Funds From Operations): net income plus depreciation minus gains on property sales — the standard REIT earnings measure, since real estate depreciation overstates actual value decline.
  • AFFO (Adjusted FFO): FFO minus maintenance capex and straight-line rent adjustments — the conservative measure of recurring distributable cash flow.
  • P/FFO and P/AFFO: the REIT equivalents of P/E; compare within the same sector.
  • NAV premium/discount: share price relative to per-share net asset value of the underlying properties; indicates market sentiment.
Infrastructure Investments

Infrastructure assets include toll roads, utilities, pipelines, cell towers, airports, and ports. Characteristics: long asset lives, high barriers to entry, regulated or contracted revenue streams, and inflation-linked cash flows (many contracts include CPI adjustments). Infrastructure provides stable, bond-like income with equity-like upside from traffic/usage growth.

Leverage in Real Estate
  • LTV (Loan-to-Value): mortgage amount / property value. Higher LTV means more leverage and more risk. Typical commercial LTV is 60-75%.
  • DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio): NOI / annual debt service. Lenders typically require 1.20x-1.50x minimum. Higher DSCR means more cushion to service debt.

Direct Real Estate vs REITs: Decision Checklist

Work through these factors before recommending a vehicle:

FactorDirect ownershipREITs
LiquiditySales take months; high transaction costsTrade intraday on exchanges
ManagementActive management required, or pay a property managerPassive; professional management included
Leverage accessNon-recourse mortgage leverage at attractive LTVs (60-75%), chosen by the investorEntity-level leverage set by REIT management; investors cannot choose property-level leverage
1031 exchangeEligible — defer capital gains by exchanging into like-kind propertyNot eligible — REIT shares do not qualify
DiversificationConcentrated in one or a few propertiesA REIT fund spreads across hundreds of properties and multiple sectors
Minimum check sizeTypically $50K+ equity (down payment plus closing costs)From one share

Mapping investor situations to the preferred vehicle:

Investor situationPreferred vehicle
May need the money within months, or rebalances regularlyREITs
Wants control over leverage, tenants, and improvementsDirect
Holds appreciated property and wants tax-deferred reinvestmentDirect (1031 exchange)
Allocation under ~$50K, or wants broad diversification immediatelyREITs
Willing to manage tenants and repairs (or pay a manager from rent)Direct
Wants passive, hands-off exposure with no operational involvementREITs

Key Formulas

FormulaExpressionUse Case
NOIGross Rental Income - Operating ExpensesProperty income measure
Cap RateNOI / Property ValueUnlevered property yield
Property ValueNOI / Cap RateIncome-based valuation
Cash-on-CashAnnual Cash Flow / Total Cash InvestedLevered equity return
GRMPrice / Gross Annual RentQuick screening metric
FFONet Income + Depreciation - Gains on SalesREIT earnings measure
AFFOFFO - Maintenance Capex - Straight-Line Rent AdjRecurring cash flow
LTVLoan Amount / Property ValueLeverage measure
DSCRNOI / Annual Debt ServiceDebt coverage measure
Show full SKILL.md (366 more words)Show less

Worked Examples

Example 1: Property Valuation Using Cap Rate

Given: NOI = $100,000 per year, prevailing cap rate for comparable properties = 6% Calculate: Property value Solution: Value = NOI / Cap Rate = $100,000 / 0.06 = $1,666,667

The property is valued at approximately $1,666,667. If the cap rate compressed to 5% (e.g., in a hot market), the value would rise to $2,000,000 — a 20% increase from a 100bp cap rate decline. This illustrates the sensitivity of real estate values to cap rate changes.

Example 2: Cash-on-Cash Return with Leverage

Given: Property value = $500,000, down payment = $200,000 (40%), mortgage = $300,000 at 6%, NOI = $35,000, annual debt service = $17,000 Calculate: Cash-on-cash return Solution: Annual pre-tax cash flow = NOI - Debt Service = $35,000 - $17,000 = $18,000 Cash-on-Cash Return = $18,000 / $200,000 = 9.0%

Compare to the unlevered cap rate: $35,000 / $500,000 = 7.0%. Leverage boosts the equity return from 7.0% to 9.0% because the cost of debt (6%) is below the cap rate (7.0%) — this is positive leverage. If the mortgage rate exceeded the cap rate, leverage would reduce returns (negative leverage).

Common Pitfalls

  • Confusing cap rate with total return — cap rate ignores appreciation, leverage effects, and capital expenditures
  • Using P/E instead of P/FFO for REITs — depreciation distorts net income, making P/E misleading for real estate companies
  • Ignoring vacancy rates in NOI calculation — always use effective gross income (after vacancy allowance), not gross potential rent
  • Overstating returns by ignoring maintenance capex — use AFFO rather than FFO for a realistic view of distributable cash flow

Cross-References

  • time-value-of-money (core plugin): discounted cash flow analysis of property investments
  • equities (wealth-management plugin): REIT stock analysis and equity market context
  • fixed-income-structured (wealth-management plugin): MBS and the mortgage market underlying real estate
  • asset-allocation (wealth-management plugin): real assets as a portfolio diversifier and inflation hedge

Running the script

uv run scripts/real_assets.py

The PEP 723 header resolves the numpy dependency automatically. Alternatively run python3 scripts/real_assets.py after pip install numpy.

  • Bare run prints a demo covering property valuation, cash-on-cash and leverage analysis, REIT metrics, and inflation-adjusted returns.
  • --verify re-runs the demo computations and asserts the outputs match this skill's worked examples (prints PASS/FAIL, nonzero exit on mismatch).
  • --help lists the available classes.

The file is primarily meant to be imported as a module, e.g. from real_assets import PropertyValuation, LeverageMetrics, REITMetrics, RealReturn.

© JoelLewis, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (scripts) in plugins/wealth-management/skills/real-assets of JoelLewis/finance_skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/real_assets.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5c498ea

Compare with similar skills

Real Assets next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Real Assets compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Real Assets this skillJoelLewis/finance_skills206—~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Thue Tncn Vietnamdotanminh/thue-tncn-vietnam241—~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Apartment Finderhanzili/hanzi-browse177—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Realestate Commercialzubair-trabzada/ai-realestate-claude179—~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Vet PRetewiah/awesome-real-estate375—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassCC0-1.0
Realestate Comparezubair-trabzada/ai-realestate-claude179—~3.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Real Assets

What does Real Assets do?

Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets. Real Assets is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Analyze real estate and infrastructure investments including REITs, direct property valuation, and infrastructure assets.

When should I use Real Assets?

Real Assets fits situations like: the user asks about real estate investing; property valuation; infrastructure investments; users mention rental property analysis.

How do I install Real Assets in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill real-assets -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/real-assets in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .claude/skills/real-assets in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Real Assets in Codex?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill real-assets -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/real-assets in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .agents/skills/real-assets in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Real Assets in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill real-assets -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/real-assets, .gemini/skills/real-assets, .github/skills/real-assets and .opencode/skills/real-assets in your project.

What does Real Assets need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Real Assets needs Python for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (uv, python3 and pip). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Real Assets access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use uv and pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Real Assets safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Real Assets use?

Real Assets is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Real Assets use?

About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.9k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Real Assets?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Real Assets: Thue Tncn Vietnam (dotanminh/thue-tncn-vietnam, 241 stars), Apartment Finder (hanzili/hanzi-browse, 177 stars), Realestate Commercial (zubair-trabzada/ai-realestate-claude, 179 stars) and Vet PR (etewiah/awesome-real-estate, 375 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Real Assets?

JoelLewis (a GitHub user) maintains it in JoelLewis/finance_skills, which has 206 GitHub stars. The repository holds 91 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 18, 2026.

Source: JoelLewis/finance_skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.