Curriculum

A general survey of the legal, economic, institutional, quantitative and strategic elements of real estate markets, institutions and practices. This course studies the ownership, transfer, and use of real estate. Issues addressed include, but are not limited to, valuation, brokerage, risk management, property management, diversification, investment and sources of capital. The course is both descriptive and analytical in nature with the goal of developing a body of theoretical and applied knowledge. Selected examples are employed to demonstrate traditional U.S. practices and procedure for comparative purposes.

This course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts, principles, and analytical methods of real estate finance. The focus will be on commercial real estate capital markets, while we also discuss different aspects of residential real estate finance. Our perspective is that of "institutional" real estate investors (e.g., pension funds, REITs, commercial banks, life insurance companies) regarding large-scale commercial properties. Students are expected to learn techniques in real estate finance and develop critical understandings on the current issues of the real estate capital markets. A key objective of this course is to help students apply these techniques to analyze real estate financing decisions in the real business world.

The course emphasizes measuring risk and rate of return under conditions of uncertainty in real estate investment decision-making. Simulation is used to face the problems of matching investment strategy to the physical property, leverage, income taxation, and organizational alternatives.

Current trends and issues affecting industrial real estate on an international level. Topics include: the multinational corporation and its location decisions; foreign taxation; international trade and exchange rates.

This course takes a creative interactive approach and provides lessons applicable all over the world about practical ways that real estate law impacts everyday life, from understanding what it means to sign a real estate contract like a residential lease or purchase contract, to understanding the process to buy real estate, to obtaining financing to purchase real estate and to growing wealth by managing your own real estate.

Through this course you will learn directly from various professionals involved in real estate such as attorneys, property appraisers, investors, property managers, city, county, state and federal government officials, owners and bankers. The conduct and activities of these practitioners is governed by real estate rules, laws and regulations made by federal, state, county and local governments as well as the private law of contracts.

Through this course, you will learn that knowing the law of real estate will help you understand real estate documents and better understand transactions that you may enter into and/or sell in the future. You will also gain insight into real estate career opportunities and what real estate professionals really do on a day to day basis.

This course will provide an overview of the principles of real estate development; allow the student to obtain a foundation of knowledge in real estate development; review the primary development product types, including land, residential, multi-family, industrial, office and mixed use property types. Private sector and public sector constraints to development will also be evaluated. Students will be required to apply financial evaluation tools and models to real estate projects. This will require computer skills and the use of basic financial concepts including TVM, NPV, and IRR to create decision-making frameworks. Also, sources of debt and equity for real estate development will examined. Public/private structures and other forms of co-operative structures that foster development will be assessed. The primary focus of the course remains the business decision-making processes related to successful real estate development.

This course provides an overview of basic theories and principles related to real estate market analysis. It gives a hands-on introduction to the industry-standard cash flow software (ARGUS) to assess risks and returns for income-producing real estate assets. Students will also learn how to use relevant data to conduct market research. The course can be divided into three parts. The first part is an introduction of basic theories and principles in real estate market analysis, urban growth patterns and real estate market dynamics. We will then discuss various public and proprietary data sources as well as the fundamental concepts related to commercial leases. The third part focuses on different types of real estate assets and how to use ARGUS to value these properties. A combination of lectures, case studies and guest speeches will be used to help students learn the techniques in market research and enhance their understanding on current market conditions. Students are expected to conduct market research projects using ARGUS and relevant databases, and present their work in both oral and written form.

This course introduces students to the end-user perspective of non-real estate companies' use of real estate. Focus is on decision-making tools and strategies to optimize performance.