A Real Investment Education Course

In a society that has been saturated with get-rich-quick ideas and an exorbitant amount of real estate seminars, books, CD’s and “experts” it is easy to buy into the hype.

So I thought I would share some truth.

For nearly 40 years the CCIM Institute has been educating commercial real estate professionals. Attributing to the caliber of the CCIM curriculum, only 6% of the real estate practitioners nationwide have achieved this designation. The series of courses offered helps develop and refine all the skills a real estate investor or broker need to thrive within the industry. While most will never have the time or energy to finish all the requirements it is important to know that the classes are open to anyone who wants to truly learn the real estate game.

I just completed the two-day introductory course where I learned more TRUTH in about 15 hours than most books, seminars or “experts” have ever dreamed of. The practical, mathematical, analytical and logical processes taught made the class the best real estate educational investment anyone can make. Participants from the new investor to seasoned brokers can learn the basics of using a financial calculator and the theories of Time Value of Money.

One of the most powerful tools taught was the correct way of calculating Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for an investment. This method captures the return over a period of time (which is how real estate is held). In contrast, the Capitalization Rate (Cap. Rate) we often hear about, only gives a snapshot of an investment at any given point in time.

I highly encourage anyone with a desire to improve their real estate knowledge to look into the CCIM curriculum.

Happy New Year: UNITS Magazine names the Triangle in its 2008 Top Ten

UNITS, a magazine published by the National Apartment Association, named Raleigh/Durham (The Triangle) one of the Top 10 Markets to Watch for 2008.

Citing the Research Triangle Park (RTP), the presence of three major universities (NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke) and state government operations, the report includes the Triangle with cities like San Francisco, San Jose and Dallas/Fort Worth.

Property & Portfolio Research projects the market will continue to be among the best performers in multi-family investment because of the expected rental-housing growth over the next several years. Specifically, the region’s surrounding communities are seeing the majority of the activity. The report sees a 2.5% growth in population for 2008.

Now, as we argued in previous posts, the Triangle tends to stay somewhat insulated from the major hits real estate markets take in other parts of the country. The logic for this is really quite simple: A strong university base functions as fuel for job creation. Couple that with the long established corporate giants planted in (RTP) and you’ll find a rather durable, downturn-tolerable market.