I've been unsuccessful trying to find a resource that gives me a formula for how to find bell curve distribution % in excel (using normdist formula or others that are more applicable) to spread costs. I am trying to make it dynamic based on whatever assumptions we use for the construction period.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

What professional organizations do you recommend joining? I am currently a student member of ULI. I have heard NAIOP is good also. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I'm preparing for an interview with a REPE Debt Fund (hence my prior posting regarding this topic). I was curious to know what types of financial models are typically used. The folks I'm interviewing with typically purchase portfolios of distressed assets, rarely individual properties.
Does anyone have knowledge or experience regarding what specific types of excel models will be typically used in this niche field of REPE?

Hey guys,

I’m just looking for some quick advice for my own situation. I graduated this past year from what I would call a “shit state school” with mediocre-to-low grades in a non-business major (Political Science major, Economics minor) but with an awesome resume & great experiences (student government president, university board of directors, built a $2.6 million facility, etc.) Obviously struck out at a lot of places while networking like a ninja but finally managed to network my way into a regional office of a top commercial real estate services firm. Already managed to get bumped up to senior analyst and am being transitioned from the back office to the front office by the end of the month, am on some non-profit boards, etc.

What are your opinions on Lipseys brand survey for commercial real estate?

You can find the results for 2013 here:
http://www.lipseyco.com/images/stories/Lipsey-2013...

with the top ten being:

1. CBRE
2. JLL and Colliers (tied)
4. Cushman & Wakefield
5. Newark Grubb Knight Frank
6. Cassidy Turley
7. NAI Global
8. Avison Young
9. Costar Group
10. Cresa

To me, from a European perspective, it seems very US focused, even though it claims having an international survey base and a broad methodology with respondants from around the globe.

Given its US focus, Im also surprised to not see Eastdil higher.

Hi Monkeys! I'm hoping to make a move to RE PM and I wanted to list my real estate investment (approx 200k equity) on my resume. I've been leasing the investment since 2009, and also made a spreadsheet w/ an amortization schedule that changes depending on my prepayments and where I think interest rates will go. Should this go under interests or is it worthy to have its own line item? Thanks!

Anyone have insights on Holliday Fenoglio Fowler?

Salary, exit opps, work life?

I am looking for information on NMRE. What are your thoughts on starting out at a life company? I think that you could potentially see some big deals, but in general I have heard these firms tend to be conservative given their nature. Any insight would be great.

Thanks.

Hello. Just wondering what people's opinions are on Masters in Real Estate programs and if they are viable options for people with little RE experience and background to use as an entry point into RE roles (programs like Columbia/NYU/Georgetown/JH). Im looking to get into CRE PE or work at a CMBS asset manager/hedge fund

Dear monkeys,

Please suggest good books on real estate finance and investments. I am open for suggestions of ANY good books on the topic, but preferably:
- Regarding commercial real estate / investments in development projects;
- Something of advance level (not "how to calculate NOI").

Something with real case studies would be even greater.

Thanks!

A growing trend in the Nordics at the moment is the spread between good and bad properties when it comes to cap rates, with regards to micro location, cities and municipal demographics, maintenance needs, vacancies, etc.

If you look back a few years, objects where quite often bought without more than a cursory DD and hardly any investigation in to maintenance needs where done. This led to a lot of larger developments and properties being priced at low cap rates and object-related risk was hardly priced in at all.

I am doing property level acquisitions (building acquisition models, taking part in all the due diligence, presenting deal investments to senior investment director, doing credit analysis on prospective tenants, etc), and am contemplating the CFA.

I have read the hotly partisan discussions about its merits, but want to know if 4 years in this role would qualify as proper work experience for the designation (since it is not securities related AND the real estate investment is not part of a wider securities dominated investment platform).

See: CFA Institute's 'Becoming a Member' section for their exact working since I cannot post that link here.

Thanks guys.

Does anyone have any info on Rockwood Real Estate Advisors? Looking for info on compensation, and exit opportunities. The role would be an Analyst in their Investment Sales group either in the Denver or San Francisco office. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey,

I'll be interviewing with a large Real Estate PE firm in a couple of weeks and I'll have to pass an excel modeling test. As of now, I don't have much RE modeling experience. Therefore, I was looking for some tutorials. Has anyone of you tried out the "breaking into wall street tutorials"? Or are there any any other resources that you'd recommend?

http://breakingintowallstreet.com/biws/real-estate...

Cheers!

What are some online resources which can teach me more about the CMBS market. It is sort of a niche market in terms of real estate finance and I'd like to learn more about it. Anything out there?

I secured a summer internship where I will work on deals in BRIC at a reputable real estate PE shop. I was curious to hear your opinions on how experience with overseas deals is viewed by recruiters. Given that most RE shops focus on US deals, could my experience be viewed negatively come FT recruiting season?

Thanks for any insights y'all!

A colleague of mine attended a course at HBS and showed me some lecture notes that were based on course material by Rena Mourouzi-Sivitanidou. The notes looked quite interesting but I only had time to give them a cursory glance.

My google-fu is weak and I can only find a few chapters PDF:ed online. Does anyone know if its been printed as a book or know where I can get ahold of additional chapters?

Hi all,

Is anyone familiar with the type and caliber of experience one would get on the RE transactions team at a big 4 firm?

In particular my medium term goal is moving into acquisitions and/or AM with an investor and I'm wondering how this experience/skills would carry over, or if a move like this is common. On the surface the platform doesn't look too different than the services that the property-specific advisories (CBRE, JLL etc) offer, so my assumption is that the caliber of experience would be at least as good.

Any input appreciated - thanks.

Hi, I am doing an econometrics study based on housing prices. One of the variables will be the home loan interest rate. I am looking at the Fed Reserve datasets, but I am not 100% sure which rate to use. I am thinking the 30 year rate is the most common, or should I be looking at something else?

I have been in talks with an investment firm in Scottsdale that focuses on the Southwest. I want to stay in touch with the local market/deal flow. Any recommended sources?

Does anyone know of any good sources to be looking at for Multifamily? I am looking for reports like PwC Korpacz but for Multifamily Real Estate and even more specifically related to acquisitions, dispositions, and economic trends. I read the headlines of PERE because the subscription is rather pricey so the information I get is limited.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

The consensus is that acquisitions, from a pay and exit op standpoint, is superior to asset management.

Ceteris paribus, wouldn't the best be a little of both (more eat what you kill style)? What do you think would be a good mix?

70% AM / 30% acquisitions sounds about right to me.

It seems most people exit to the VP/principal level at large (5B+) funds where they have the eat what you kill style shop rather than 100% splitting acquisitions and asset management. Would the exit ops be superior and more diverse with experience on both sides? Can you really get a top acquisitions gig without proving yourself on the AM side at some point?

Any advice on where to find good material for RE excel modeling?

I go to a top RE University but we don't have a specific class on excel modeling.

I have done a class in Chicago and bought an online package with excel files, but I am really looking for some case studies to do on my own so that I can practice my modeling from scratch. Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance.

I graduated in december 2012. I got a medical withdrawal from college mid junior year ... after a year off I returned and finished.

During recovery, I got tired of sitting around so I got my real estate salesperson license. I absolutely hated the firm that sponsored me after working there for a month and finding out what they were really like.

I was wondering what other potential career paths in real estate there are in the industry. I have a bachelors of business admin and finance.

I came across this company Timbercreek Asset Management and I'm trying to figure out what they would be classified as, asset management, real estate, etc.

I'm new to the world of finance so I don't have a thorough understanding of the differences between all the industry categories.

They have 3B AUM, and seem to invest in residential multi unit buildings, as well as sell mortgages.

Thanks for any feedback.

I am a college student and was put in touch with someone at Integrated Asset Services. Can anyone tell me more about what exactly they do?

This is what is listed on their website:

Integrated Asset Services delivers premier mortgage services for the entire residential asset management process. Our end-to-end solutions include the industry’s most advanced data and analytics, credit diligence, collateral valuations including AVMs, CVMs, BPOs and appraisals, and complete REO management for any size portfolio.

What type of projects would an analyst work on there? what type of 'deal exposure' is there? Exit ops? I realize this these are very elementary questions, but I really do not know much about this industry and am attempting to find out more.

Hi, I have a first-round interview for a summer analyst position at Blackstone RE group upcoming next week. I go to a liberal arts school and this is the first time that the group came to do recruiting. Could anyone please give some idea about what the interview would be like and how I should prepare for it?
Many thanks!

I am fresh out of college(graduated in May 2012), and work in investment sales in California. I found a passion for real estate early during college, got my sales license and took Graduate level urban planning courses during Undergrad since they were the only ones involving real estate. Coming from a large state school in the Southwest, I didn't have the opportunity to interview with any investment banks or Real Estate Acquisitions firms, since they mostly only recruited through Ivy league B-Schools. I completed 2 internships with commercial brokerages and now work in investment sales in California. While I enjoy sales(and I do pretty nicely for being 23y.o), I know that I only want to be a broker for 5-10 years, if that.

Anyone know much about the firm regarding reputation, culture, pay, ect?