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As some of you may know from my earlier posts, I am not coming from a traditional real estate investment banking background but rather from FIG covering REITs, banks, insurers, etc. I feel a handicap I will have during REPE recruiting it my lack of ARGUS Knowledge. So I wanted to know what you guys thought of the certification online? It is a few hundred dollars I believe and I feel it will help me establish more credibility during my interviews. So would you recommend it? Any advice on how I can prepare for the exam? I know there are free trails online but any other resources you feel may help?

Thanks again for all your advice. It is making this transition a lot easier.

13 Comments
 

Hey Stallion, I think the cert is worth getting if you can minimize the cost. Argus is a great program and is very well known. If you're familiar with commercial real estate underwriting the training modules will be boring, but still i think its worth it because the software is VERY elaborate. And having the Cert on the resume should get you in the door at any top firm, Deloitte, WF, etc... I just purchased the Argus 16 Bundle for $1000 and have gone through two of the modules... I'll give the exam a shot probably this weekend and see how it goes. i can give you my user/pass to see the eLearning modules, but i'd want to subsidize my cost too ;) Let me know...

 
Best Response

As someone who moved from a banking background into RE, I can tell you that if you have half a brain and can put together a decent excel model, learning ARGUS will be very easy. I learned by buying a video-based course from the internet (on the new job). I think it cost $600 and was 6-8 hrs long total. Using ARGUS is really just data entry and testing to make sure the results make sense. You are not building a framework like you would in Excel; ARGUS is the framework and you are just inputting numbers. What will be somewhat more complicated, but still not too hard, is understanding how different types of leases work and what reasonable assumptions are.

All that being said, spending a few hundred bucks would be worth it just to show people you have the initiative to learn the program ahead of time and are serious enough about doing RE that you made the investment of time and money.

 
shredsledUsing ARGUS is really just data entry and testing to make sure the results make sense.
figuring which reports to run to test your changes can be huge. highly recommend this trial-and-error approach.
 

Out of curiosity, how long does this take for one to learn the software and obtain certification? Assuming one is comp savvy can this be done in 3-6 months with an hour or two of dedication after each workday?

 

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