Wert-Berater vs. MMCG

Who MMCG is

MMCG Invest, LLC is a boutique feasibility consultancy preparing SBA, USDA, EB-5, and commercial real estate feasibility studies for lenders and developers. It describes itself as a national feasibility study consultancy, publishes an office at 27 Maiden Lane, Suite 625, San Francisco, and states that engagements start at $4,900 with fixed-fee scoping and standard delivery of 9 to 16 business days.

Where Wert-Berater focuses

Wert-Berater, Inc. has prepared independent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements representing $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. The firm works in two lanes. First, lender- and agency-facing studies built to satisfy a specific financing program: SBA 7(a) and 504, USDA Business & Industry and Rural Development, USCIS EB-5, and bank underwriting. Second, large private- and institutional-capital projects for private funds, developers, and operators — including resort developments across the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, and the approximately $1 billion Collin Creek Mall mixed-use redevelopment in Plano, Texas (office, retail, a hotel, and up to 3,000 residences). In either lane, every study is delivered with a linked financial model, sensitivity analysis, and the supporting narrative a credit committee or investment committee needs to rely on the numbers.

Side-by-side comparison

Firm leadership, experience and credentials

Brand size is not the same as experience, and experience is not the same as the credentials a lender, an agency, or a court looks for on the signature page. The table below compares what each firm publishes about the people who actually lead the work. Every entry is drawn from the firm's own published material; where a firm does not publish a name, a designation, an underwriting background, or testimony experience, that is stated plainly rather than filled in.

Why these distinctions are valued by lenders and investors

MMCG is the closest structural comparison on this list, and it names its principal openly: the firm publishes Michal Mohelsky as founder and lead analyst, and states that he reviews every study before it reaches a credit committee. Where the two firms differ is in the credential set each publishes behind that signature. MMCG publishes a Juris Doctor, the FMVA financial-modeling certification, and Practicing Affiliate status with the Appraisal Institute. Wert-Berater publishes, for its Senior Valuation Advisor, the Appraisal Institute's MAI designation, the ASA Going Concern specialty, the BCA and CMEA designations covering business and equipment valuation, and Certified General Real Estate Appraiser licensure in multiple states. Both are legitimate choices. The question worth putting to your lender is which credentials it expects to see behind the value and going-concern conclusions in your particular file.

Three things tend to come up when a credit committee weighs who prepared a study. The first is the designation behind the value conclusion. The Appraisal Institute describes its MAI designation as one that “has long been recognized by courts of law, government agencies, financial institutions, and investors as a mark of excellence in the field of real estate valuation and analysis.” The second is the range of credentials available to the assignment. On special-purpose and going-concern assets — hotels, fuel and convenience, senior care, marinas, manufacturing — a project's value can sit partly in the real estate, partly in the operating business, and partly in the machinery and equipment. Wert-Berater's Senior Valuation Advisor holds the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute, where he has been a member since 2006, together with the ASA Going Concern specialty and the BCA and CMEA designations in business and equipment valuation. The third is whether the conclusion can be defended. Litigation support and expert-witness work are published practice areas of Wert-Berater, and the Senior Valuation Advisor brings expert-testimony experience on the engagements on which he works.

Underwriting background matters for a quieter reason: a study written by someone who has sat on the lending side tends to be organised around the questions a credit committee has to answer. He began his professional career at Lehman Brothers in 1982 as a college intern and has subsequently worked in real estate investment, underwriting, financial analysis, feasibility analysis, and advisory services.

Requirements differ by lender, agency, and transaction. The practical step is to ask your lender which credentials it expects to see behind the conclusions in your file, and then compare the firms on that basis.

Education, designations and what each one actually requires

Credentials are easy to list and harder to compare, because they are not all the same kind of thing. Some are university degrees, some are professional designations that may involve examination and documented experience, some are online certifications, and some are categories of membership. The table below sets out what the awarding body itself publishes as the requirement — so the comparison is between the requirements, not between the abbreviations. Where we have not sourced a requirement from the awarding body, the credential is listed by name only rather than described.

Also published, listed by name and awarding body only: Juris Doctor (J.D.) (Charles University Faculty of Law, as published by MMCG) — MMCG; Certified General Real Estate Appraiser (State appraiser regulatory agencies) — Wert-Berater; MSc Economics (London School of Economics) and LLB Law (University of London) — Wert-Berater. We do not summarise the requirements for these, because we have not sourced them from the awarding body; consult the awarding body directly.

This is the comparison most worth setting out in full, because the two firms publish genuinely different kinds of credential. On education, MMCG publishes a Juris Doctor from Charles University Faculty of Law and attendance at a programme at John Marshall Law School in Chicago — a legal education. Mr. Safranek earned graduate qualifications in economics from the London School of Economics and in law from the University of London, following undergraduate studies in English Literature and Economics at Rollins College. On designations, the difference is one of category as much as subject. The Corporate Finance Institute describes the FMVA as a self-paced, wholly online certification: 18 required courses out of 43, a final exam, an average completion time it puts at roughly 100 to 200 hours, and, in CFI's own words, “no formal prerequisites—you don't need a finance background to start.” It is a real and useful grounding in financial modelling, which is 35% of its curriculum, and MMCG publishes it as a credential of its founder. The Appraisal Institute's MAI is built differently: required coursework with examinations, admission as a Candidate for Designation, the General Comprehensive Examination, the General Demonstration of Knowledge, and 4,500 hours of specialised appraisal experience, followed by a binding Code of Professional Ethics, the Standards of Professional Practice, and continuing education. The Appraisal Institute lists its professional designations as the MAI, SRA, AI-GRS and AI-RRS, calls them “marks of excellence in valuation,” and publishes that “only 8% of U.S. appraisers hold an AI designation.” On Practicing Affiliate status we make no claim at all: we could not establish its requirements from the Institute's published membership materials, so the table records that it is published by MMCG and leaves it there. On experience, MMCG publishes prior roles at RSBC Group, a European real estate and private-equity investment group, and in practice at the Czech law firm Portos. He began his professional career at Lehman Brothers in 1982 as a college intern and has subsequently worked in real estate investment, underwriting, financial analysis, feasibility analysis, and advisory services. On published volume, MMCG states $1.62 billion of aggregate construction cost analysed through Q1 2026 and $1.15 billion of loan volume supported; Wert-Berater states $41.2 billion of evaluated project value across 4,000+ engagements since 1998. Those are different measures — construction cost against evaluated project value — so they are reported here as each firm publishes them and not converted into a ratio. Wert-Berater's own view, offered as this firm's positioning rather than as a finding about anyone else: what we sell is four decades of institutional underwriting — direct experience of the credit decision a feasibility study exists to inform, from the side of the table that has to approve it — paired with a designation whose issuing body requires 4,500 hours of specialised experience behind it. That is why we set out the requirements above in full rather than leaving a list of abbreviations to speak for itself. Which of these paths matters for your file is a judgement for you and your lender, and we would encourage you to ask your lender which credentials it expects to see on the signature page.

Credential requirements above are drawn from the awarding bodies' own published materials as of the date this page was generated and may change; consult the awarding body for the current requirements. Leadership details for MMCG reflect that firm's own published statements as of the date this page was generated and may change. Designations shown are those each firm publishes; the professionals assigned to any individual engagement may differ.

When MMCG may be the better fit

Choose MMCG if price is the deciding factor and the track record it publishes meets your lender's comfort level. There is no single best firm for every assignment — the right choice depends on what your lender, agency, or investor requires from the document.

When to choose Wert-Berater

Choose Wert-Berater when the study has to satisfy a specific financing program and survive underwriting — SBA, USDA, EB-5, or a bank credit committee — or when a private fund, developer, or operator needs an institutional-grade feasibility study for a large, complex, or international project. The firm is independent, owes its duty to the capital provider, charges no success or contingent fees, completes standard studies in 10–15 business days, and works across all 50 states and internationally, including the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

Track record, credentials, and senior experience

Each firm publishes its own activity measure, and the two are not the same measure — so they are set out separately rather than compared. Wert-Berater has prepared independent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements and $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. MMCG publishes $1.62 billion in aggregate construction cost analysed across funded engagements through Q1 2026, $1.15 billion in loan volume supported, and 30+ commercial real estate asset classes; it does not publish a founding year or a cumulative count of completed studies on its own website, so neither is stated here. Because one figure counts construction cost and the other counts evaluated project value, they cannot be ranked against each other and no ratio between them is meaningful; read each as the measure its own firm chose to report. Wert-Berater's senior team is US-based and credentialed: MAI-designated appraisers and former investment-banking professionals, each with between 6 and 20+ years of direct feasibility and valuation experience, and the principal who signs your study performs the analysis. MMCG publishes an office at 27 Maiden Lane, Suite 625, San Francisco, and states that engagements start at $4,900. If price is the leading consideration, a lower-cost boutique may be enough; when your lender, agency, or investment committee is weighing credentials and a long, verifiable track record, the published records differ in the ways set out below.

Blue-chip experience, boutique access

The largest advisory firms have capable leadership — but a feasibility study there is often staffed by rotating junior analysts, priced at enterprise rates, and shaped to a standard template. Wert-Berater is built the opposite way. The principal who signs your study does the analysis, with blue-chip credentials and a track record of 4,000+ engagements and $41.2 billion in evaluated project value since 1998 — spanning SBA, USDA, and EB-5 loan files and large private and institutional projects worldwide, from oil & gas refineries in Qatar and Dubai to resort developments across the Caribbean and Latin America and manufacturing facilities across Europe and the Middle East. You get senior judgment applied directly to your project — deeper, more customized work, without the overhead and cost of a global brand.

An advantage no competitor offers: your live project portal

The large advisory and brokerage firms hand you a static PDF and an invoice. Wert-Berater gives you something the large firms typically don't — a secure, private client portal where your feasibility study and financial model stay live. Update an assumption and the results recompute; enter actuals and monitor the project against its original projections 24/7, for the life of the deal. Your lender, your team, and your investors can all follow the same numbers in one confidential place, restricted to your engagement and enforced on the server. It is feasibility delivered as living technology — not a document that is out of date the day it prints.

How to verify any feasibility consultant — including this one

Almost everything a consultant publishes about itself — this page included — is marketing until you check it. The questions below are the ones your lender's credit committee is effectively asking on your behalf, and every one can be answered before you sign an engagement letter. Put them to every firm you shortlist, Wert-Berater among them, and compare the answers rather than the brochures.

1. Independence. Is any part of the fee contingent on the study's conclusion, on the loan closing, or on the project proceeding? Does the firm, or anyone signing the report, hold an ownership, brokerage, placement, or lending interest in the project? Get both answers in writing.
2. The standard the document is written to. Ask the firm to name the standard your study will conform to — SBA SOP 50 10 for 7(a) and 504 files, USDA 7 CFR Part 5001 for OneRD guaranteed loans, including Business & Industry and Community Facilities, and the special instructions that govern conventional credits. A firm that cannot name the standard your file will be examined against is not the firm to prepare it.
3. Credentials, verified at the source. Take every designation, certification, licence and degree a firm publishes and confirm it directly with the body that awards it — the credential, the member or licence number, and current standing. Many professional bodies maintain public registers for exactly this purpose; where none exists — as is usual for university degrees — ask the firm for written authority to confirm it with the issuer directly. A logo, a signature block, or a list on a website verifies nothing, ours included.
4. Who signs it versus who writes it. Ask who performs the analysis, who signs the report, and whether they are the same person. If they are not, ask what the signer's review actually consists of, and how many reports that person signs in a typical month.
5. Who inspects the site. Ask who physically visits the property and the competing properties, where that person travels from, whether the inspection is in the fee or billed separately, and to see the inspection evidence in a sample report.
6. Professional liability cover. Ask whether the firm carries errors-and-omissions insurance, at what limit, and whether it will state that limit in writing. A lender relying on a third-party document generally expects the preparer to be insured.
7. Lender references. Ask for institutions — not sponsors — that have accepted the firm's studies for the same programme and a comparable asset type. Then call them.
8. Licensure where a value opinion is included. If the engagement includes an opinion of value rather than market and financial analysis alone, ask which state appraiser certificate covers it and confirm it with that state's regulator. Appraiser licensing is set by the state where the property sits.

Two of these separate firms faster than any feature comparison: verify the credentials with the awarding body, and find out who physically inspects the property. However each firm answers, you will have compared them on what your lender will be examining rather than on what each firm chose to advertise.

Frequently asked

Is Wert-Berater an alternative to MMCG?

Yes. For projects financed through SBA, USDA, or a bank, Wert-Berater prepares independent, program-compliant feasibility studies. MMCG is a lower-cost boutique publishing $1.62 billion of construction cost analysed, 30+ asset classes, and engagements starting at $4,900; Wert-Berater publishes a track record since 1998, a US-based senior team with MAI and investment-banking backgrounds, and $41.2 billion in evaluated project value.

Does Wert-Berater follow SBA and USDA requirements?

Yes. Studies are built to SBA SOP 50 10 8 and USDA 7 CFR Part 5001 (Guaranteed Loans), structured for lender, credit-committee, and examiner review.

Does Wert-Berater only prepare SBA and USDA studies?

No. Alongside SBA, USDA, and EB-5 loan files, Wert-Berater prepares institutional-grade feasibility studies for private funds, developers, and operators on large and international projects — including resort developments in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America and the approximately $1 billion Collin Creek Mall mixed-use redevelopment in Plano, Texas.

Wert-Berater, Inc. is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by MMCG. MMCG is a trademark of its respective owner. This comparison reflects each firm's publicly described service focus and is provided for informational purposes.