CFA offers you some guidance on REAL ESTATES FINANCE AND INVESTMENTS. In order to have indepth grip on the issue (more on the pragmatic grounds), which course offers you the best. some one told me that CAIA build some base as well but solid skills including financial modelling, financing structure, cash flow analysis and strategies are still lacking. What could be proper way of going forward - considering if someone wants to understand any deal such as GM building, 240 PARK AVENUE building - all these transactions.
This is what I was looking for as well. I ordered CAIA LI curriculum book, Linneman, but did not receive yet. Any idea?
I am afraid not as I have not registered for CAIA and still contemplating on its practicability and usefulness.
Same here. I did not register, I just wanted to see the books. Start ordering with real estate. Seeing the book I might have a clue about the usefulness.
I’d kinda go with neither. Both CFA and CAIA teach real estate investment from a pretty distant perspective. If you’re talking about buying a building the devil is in the details. If there is anyway to learn this without getting in the trenches and doing it with someone who knows the ropes, I’d like to hear about it.
Now, somehow I am in the trenches. But I am too new and too impatient. Plus not very nurturing environment at work.
Hmm… OK, well that’s a different problem. Impatient chessplayers are always told to “sit on their hands” so perhaps you need to learn that a little. You should do whatever you can to find a mentor. One of the problems with the new guy finding a mentor is that the people nearest to you are either young and new (thus not good mentors) or incompetent (which is why they are not new and young and still near to you). If your work environment is not nurturing, I bet it’s the latter. Incompetent people don’t want to be nurturing because you’ll find out they are fakes. This is what golf, squash, racquetball, etc are for. Find someone who isn’t incompetent at real estate, kick his ass at squash (you are young after all and “back in the day” he could have kicked your ass), and he’ll start talking to you about real estate. You kick his ass at squash, he kicks your ass at real estate. It’s win, win, win…
Once again, good advice:))
Yeah, the only real way to learn that stuff is in the trenches. Also, Argus has some serious (and obscenely expensive) software training. I’m currently working in the trenches of real estate investment and I can’t imagine there being a legitimate way of learning this stuff without it being hands-on. There’s just too much to learn. I might recommend taking some classes through the Appraisal Institute. Some of those classes will lay a strong foundation in real estate analysis.
The CAIA real estate curriculum is a minor part of the test and is only a basic overview (for level 1, that is.) I think the source reading is a mere 150 pages or something in that ballpark.
Stern offers summer vocational courses and certificates but … kknet can u elaborate about appraisal institute …from financial modeling, valuation and structuring perspective
Yeah. The Appraisal Institute is the organization that gives out the real estate appraisal designations, particularly the MAI, which allows one to appraise commercial real estate. Even if you’re not on the appraiser track you can take classes through the Appraisal Institute. I’d wager a pretty penny that there is no better place to go to get formalized education about valuation. In fact, my company once a year or so pays the Appraisal Institute to put on a six week class on the direct capitalization method. I would say the courses are fairly weak from a modeling and structuring perspective. However, commercial appraisal as a career is great for modeling real estate. The formal Argus software training is probably the best formal training for modeling. Structuring? No idea. As an underwriter, we pay a large staff to work solely on pricing and structuring loans. Probably the only legitimate way at all to learn that is on-the-job training.