Real Estate Investment and Development
Online Short Course
Gain the necessary skills and tools to develop, and finance, commercially viable real estate assets.
8 weeks, excluding 1 week orientation.
7–10 hours of self-paced learning per week, entirely online.
Email: riceadmissions@getsmarter.com
Call: +1 281 201 5600
About This Course
The Rice Business Real Estate Investment and Development online short course will introduce you to the world of commercial property. It aims to equip professionals with the skills to analyze commercially viable real estate for development, while providing an introduction to the analysis concepts and techniques, and the instruments commonly used to finance them.
You’ll explore the various ecosystems that exist within commercial real estate and how these systems interact. Focus is placed on the financial tools that assess the feasibility of an investment, taking the associated risks and returns on potential investments into account. Discounted cash flows are utilized and information on the numerous stakeholders is explored, which all impact the ability to make informed investment decisions.
The global real estate rental market is forecasted to reach $2216.2 billion in 2023.*
* Research and Markets (Apr, 2020).
What This Course Covers
The course will assist you in identifying viable real estate opportunities, while also providing an overview of the different stakeholders involved in the development process.
Some of the topics covered in the course include: capitalization rates, market analysis, the real estate development team, phases of the development process, financial analysis, capital structures, and discounted cash flows.
The course will examine the fundamentals of the real estate system and investigate the commercial real estate ecosystems.
A Powerful Collaboration
Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business is collaborating with online education provider GetSmarter to create a new class of learning experience — one that is high-touch, intimate and personalized for the working professional.
About Rice University
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice University has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences.
About the Jones Graduate School of Business
As a forward-thinking business school for the next generation of global leaders, Jones Graduate School of Business (Rice Business) honors Jesse Jones by continuing his contribution to the business community through the education of new generations of students. The school provides a business education focused on leadership, integrity and service.
About GetSmarter
GetSmarter, a 2U, Inc. brand, partners with the world's leading universities to select, design and deliver premium online short courses with a data-driven focus on learning gain.
Technology meets academic rigor in GetSmarter’s people-mediated model, which enables lifelong learners across the globe to obtain industry-relevant skills that are certified by the world’s most reputable academic institutions.
As a participant, you will also gain unlimited access to 2U’s Career Engagement Network at no extra cost. This platform will provide you with valuable career resources and events to support your professional journey. You can look forward to benefits including rich content, career templates, webinars, workshops, career fairs, networking events, panel discussions, and exclusive recruitment opportunities to connect you with potential employers.*
*Some of these events may be virtual due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
What You’ll Learn
You’ll be welcomed to the course and begin connecting with fellow students, while exploring the navigation and tools of your Online Campus. Be alerted to key milestones in the learning path, and review how your results will be calculated and distributed.
You’ll be required to complete your student profile and submit a digital copy of your passport/identity document.
Explore the financial tools used to value real estate investments.
- Identify the risk–reward trade-off associated with real estate investments
- Apply investment decision rules and financial tools to a real estate investment in a single period
- Demonstrate the differences between single-period and multi-period real estate investments
- Calculate the returns on a multi-period real estate investment using spreadsheet software
Examine the interactions of two markets that influence the value of income-generating properties.
- Define the space market and the asset market
- Outline the roles of the space market and the asset market in driving real estate value (cap rates)
- Show the impact of changes in growth expectations and expected returns on real estate value
- Discuss the reasons for segmentation in the space market
- Identify different property types in the space market
- Identify the options available to facilitate investment in the real estate asset market
- Analyze the factors that influence the value, risk, and return of real estate investments
Learn how the real estate development process works, and who the different stakeholders are.
- Recall the interactions within the real estate system
- Outline the process to decide whether to proceed with a real estate development
- Apply real estate market study methods to practical scenarios
- Identify the team members involved in the real estate development process
- Differentiate between the phases of the real estate development process
Examine the role of cash flows (rental income and sale price) in valuing property investments.
- Recognize that rents are the source of value of commercial real estate
- Identify the most important negotiable aspects of leases
- Classify leases with respect to reimbursable expenses
- Outline typical cash flow pro forma line items
- Apply your knowledge of the cash flow pro forma to practical scenarios
- Calculate the appropriate discount rate to use in a cash flow pro forma
- Argue the benefits of using the DCF method over the direct capitalization shortcut to value commercial real estate
Establish the impact of external debt funding on a real estate investment's return and risk.
- Recall terminology relating to leverage
- Identify the effect of leverage on the risk and return of an investment
- Calculate the cost of capital of an investment using the WACC formula
- Contrast the calculation of WACC with that of the IRR in the after-tax cash flow pro forma
- Critique the use of leverage to finance real estate investments
Consider the factors impacting the real estate development decision.
- Identify the aspects in an initial development feasibility analysis
- Calculate the elements of a preliminary feasibility analysis
- Articulate the sale of a property as a real estate exit strategy
- Investigate how interim income is affected based on the timing of cash flows
- Assess the effect on the rate of return of a development based on absorption rates
Investigate the financing options available to real estate investors.
- Recall the most common financial instruments used to finance real estate investments
- Identify the order in which debt becomes payable in the event of foreclosure
- Show how a ‘promote’ incentivizes the equity partner overseeing the day-to-day management of a property
- Analyze the aspects that influence an equity partnership
- Assess the desirability of an equity partnership deal
Deal or no deal?
- Recognize that the discounted cash flow model is a tool instead of a final outcome
- Outline the due diligence process to follow before proceeding with a real estate investment
- Show how the market value and investment value of a property are estimated
- Analyze the most common sources of positive NPV in real estate deals
- Recall what you have learned about real estate development and finance
Who Should Take This Course
This online short course is designed for real estate developers and entrepreneurs looking to gain the skills needed to identify and analyze the commercial viability of real estate investments and developments.
It would also be helpful for real estate agents, brokers, and property managers who want to deepen their knowledge of the commercial real estate ecosystem. Finance professionals would also benefit from the course, by gaining a holistic understanding of the commercial real estate landscape and exploring the specific financial tools and techniques required to assess the feasibility of an investment.
This Course Is for You if You Want To:
Inform Your Investments
Expand your understanding of the commercial real estate ecosystem to make informed investment and development decisions.
Gain Analysis Skills
Understand the specific financial tools and techniques required to assess the feasibility of an investment.
Verify Your Knowledge
Formalize your skills in commercial real estate with an executive education digital certificate from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
About the Certificate
In just eight weeks, you’ll earn an executive education digital certificate of professional achievement from Rice Business validating your new skills in real estate investment and development.
Assessment is continuous and based on a series of practical assignments completed online. In order to be issued with a Rice Business executive education digital certificate you’ll need to meet the requirements outlined in the course handbook. The handbook will be made available to you as soon as you begin the course.
Your digital certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you upon successful completion of the course, as per the stipulated requirements.
Who You’ll Learn From
These subject matter experts from Rice Business guide the course design and appear in a number of course videos, along with a variety of industry professionals.
Your Academic Director
Jefferson Duarte
Gerald D. Hines Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance, Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business
Duarte is an associate professor of finance and the Gerald D. Hines Professor of Real Estate Finance at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. He is an expert in several areas of asset pricing and real estate finance including option pricing, fixed income, and mortgage-backed securities (MBS).
Currently teaching real estate finance and real estate development, Professor Duarte has also taught Ph.D. and MBA-level courses in option pricing models, term structure models, and risk management. He holds a B.Sc. in civil engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronautica (Brazil) and both an MBA and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago.
How You’ll Learn
Every course is broken down into manageable, weekly modules, designed to accelerate your learning process through diverse learning activities:
- Work through your downloadable and online instructional material
- Interact with your peers and learning facilitators through weekly class-wide forums and reviewed small group discussions
- Enjoy a wide range of interactive content, including video lectures, infographics, live polls, and more
- Investigate rich, real-world case studies
- Apply what you learn each week to quizzes and ongoing project submissions, culminating in a comprehensive scenario analysis and the ability to apply the practical tools to real estate investment decisions
Your Success Team
GetSmarter, with whom Rice Business is collaborating to deliver this online course, provides a personalized approach to online education that ensures you’re supported throughout your learning journey.
Head Learning Facilitator
A subject expert who’ll guide you through content-related challenges.
Success Adviser
Your one-on-one support available during university hours (8a.m.–5p.m. EST) to resolve technical and administrative challenges.
Global Success Team
Available 24/7 to solve your tech-related and administrative queries and concerns.
“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined.”
Andrew Carnegie
Billionaire Industrialist
Technical Requirements
Basic Requirements
In order to complete this course, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet, as well as a PDF Reader. You may need to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word or Excel.
Browser Requirements
We recommend that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when accessing the Online Campus. Although this is not a requirement, we have found that this browser performs best for ease of access to course material. This browser can be downloaded here.
Additional Requirements
Certain courses may require additional software and resources. These additional software and resource requirements will be communicated to you upon registration and/or at the beginning of the course. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube may be used in our course delivery, and if these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing course content. Please check with an Enrolment Advisor before registering for this course if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.
