Real Estate

<p>What is a good major for someone interested in Real Estate? Most schools do not have this major.</p>

<p>There are a fair and growing number of schools with RE as a major. Look for one that features commerical RE and finance rather than training for a home sales position. NYU, Wisconsin, Florida and many others offer quality RE programs. It's a great field with lots of opportunity.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>wharton has it as a major if i'm not mistaken</p>

<p>wharton has it as part of a concentration under Economics. USC has it under Senior Concentrations under Business Administration.
Hey, iIm a licensed salesperson right now, is it worth majoring or use college education in other areas of interested since you can technically become a broker without going through the degree route?
My guess is that you learn thee ins and outs of the business much more better if you go to a top notch biz school and learn the industry from the best. Correct me if I'm wrong.</p>

<p>you can become a very successfull broker or sales person without a degree. though the degree gives you a lot more credibilty with clients, assuming youre still fresh and not established.</p>

<p>Wisconsin has been rated number 1 several times for real estate, dont know if that helps, but that is all i know about it</p>

<p>Their are several tiers of the RE business. Home sales is the lowest although you certainly can make lots of money.No degree required. Commercial property brokerage is next and generally requires a degree. Investment analysis and sales is the next level and often requires an MBA. Finally you have the Wall St. IB firms that do large RE lending and such. Generally requires a Top 20 MBA.</p>

<p>"Real Estate" is too big of a universe to pin down in one major. As Barrons said, different degrees can lead to different careers within real estate. A civil engineer may become a top notch construction manager or builder. A classics major with great people skills could become a hugely successful salesperson. There are many faces of real estate.</p>

<p>Real estate careers can include single-family residential, multi-family (condos, apts.), commercial (office, retail, etc.) industrial, construction, management, planning, development, finance, design, engineering, environmental, maintenance, security, code consulting, insurance, and on and on.</p>

<p>Look at what part of the real estate universe interests you most and then find a major that teaches those skills. Read some of the trade publications for whatever real estate sector you like and look for market or trend reports from academics. Then check out their schools.</p>

<p>Often some of the best real estate educational programs are given outside of the college environment and are offered through the trade associations. These courses focus solely on the skills you need for their part of the industry. College degrees don't matter.</p>

<p>Here in Chicago, a professor at DePaul is well-known for her expertise on commercial market forecasting. Another professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago is well-regarded for his expertise on taxation and the economics of real estate financing. Finally, Roosevelt University has created a real estate school funded by people who made their fortunes in real estate.</p>

<p>Real Estate is gonna suck in 20 years when all the baby boomers die off.</p>

<p>There is always money to be made in real estate no matter what the condition of the market. Actually the best money is made when things are "down". Aging boomers will be creating a huge market in retirement homes and nursing homes. Creative re-use of properites also is a good play in RE. I have been in it a long time and unlike many other areas, I have always had good jobs.</p>

<p>'There is always money to be made in real estate no matter what the condition of the market. Actually the best money is made when things are "down".'</p>

<p>what some percieve as down, others percieve as up in RE..this is a true statement</p>

<p>That's why Sam Zell is one of the more successful guys in RE. He buys when everyone thinks the markets are tanked and vacancy rates are 20%. Institutional investors tend to do the opposite and only go in when things are peaking.</p>

<p>There is 1 realtor for every 4 households in America. If RE is your thing you should go into corporate real estate. All the money is in the corporations.</p>

<p>well right now wouldnt be the time to buy real estate, just wait and watch over the next couple years</p>

<p>Unless we go into recession I don't see much of a down market except for some condos. But there is no hurry to buy either .</p>

<p>market is already on a downturn, the largest being vegas with expected 7-10% decrease for this year and 3-5% for the years following</p>

<p>"wharton has it as part of a concentration under Economics"</p>

<p>That's a little misleading... All Wharton students get a BS in Economics so no one has a major. Instead you pick concentrations. And Real Estate is a concentration that you can select (not a part of a concentration... that would be like a single class).</p>

<p><a href="http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/curriculum/concentrations/real_estate.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/curriculum/concentrations/real_estate.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Wharton also has the Sam Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center <a href="http://realestate.wharton.upenn.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://realestate.wharton.upenn.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Yea, oops on my part. :)
Anyway, Wharton have fantastic resources for real estate.</p>

<p>I think SF in Vegas will be fine due to the huge job growth. Highrise condos are overpriced for the locals and mostly bought by investors. They coud fall sharply. Many proposed HR condos are not being built so that will help some..</p>

<p>If you are interested in real estate, I highly suggest you pick a target market where you would want to focus your business and then pick a school based on that. The real estate industry tends to be a lot more localized geographically than other industries. The networking you do as an undergrad will pretty much only be with people within a couple hundred miles of your school.</p>

<p>That being said, I am a student at UT-Austin and we have a real estate finance major. Specifically, it is a finance major completed with the real estate track (the tracks for finance are ibanking, corporate, energy, real estate, general, financial markets/banking). The real estate finance track is mostly focused on commercial real estate. Networking within the Austin area is superb. The real estate finance center receives more requests for interns than there are students on the real estate finance track.</p>

<p>There are many opportunities in Austin and Texas in general in the real estate field. Where some markets are expecting depreciation in the coming years, Texas markets are expecting continuing appreciation. On the residential side, Texas is seeing a lot of investor money coming in from out of state (california & new york) as these investors see the lower cost of ownership and a more stabilized market.</p>