Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 28 votes
Hey All,
This has likely been covered before, but the search functionality isn't providing me the information I need. I wanted to ask about commercial real estate courses available online, predominately those offered by CCIM, MIT, Udemy, and must-read books.
I've noticed they have CCIM has C1 101 course regarding Financial Analysis. Has anyone taken this course? If so, what was your experience? Did it provide you sufficient knowledge to act on commercial deals?
Udemy has a free course, taught by Peter Harris. Any thoughts there?
Are there are other courses online that are more affordable, but provide similar value?
I'm still a newbie (started house hacking a duplex recently), but have gravitated towards multi-family properties due to the concept of stabilized income, what are your top must-reads?
I know this is a lot of questions, but In any case, any of your thoughts would be appreciated.
An often overlooked part of reading / education - get your hands on some real P&L's and start doing "practice" analysis on buildings. You can sign up to places like capstone , and once you sign an NDA you can download their marketing packages on large apartment deals.
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 28 votes
8y
@Hadar Orkibi thanks so much for the advice. I've heard Jake & Gino's BP podcast, will check out their own as well. A friend of mine just mentioned the book by Brian Maury, will definitely check that out!
An often overlooked part of reading / education - get your hands on some real P&L's and start doing "practice" analysis on buildings. You can sign up to places like capstone , and once you sign an NDA you can download their marketing packages on large apartment deals.
Pillars of Wealth Creation (shameless plug - this one is mine, but we did a full apartment investing series recently)
Wheel barrow of Profits, Michael Blank's, Best Real Estate Investing advice Ever, Target Market Insights, Lifetime Cash flow. I am sure that I am forgetting some good ones, but that is a start
Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HAWAII (HI) · Member since 2011 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
8y
Chirag Shah you can read all the books you want but when you are buying such expensive assets you need to pony up and pay for a mentor and get around peers where you can bounce ideas and learn together.
Real Estate Broker · Manchester, NH · Member since 2014 · 630 posts · 420 votes
8y
Hi @Chirag Shah - I recently completed the CI101 course offered through CCIM. I'm a broker and not a principal so my motivation for taking the course may have been different than yours, but the vast majority of individuals who have gone through or have earned the CCIM designation are brokers and based on the course material I can understand why.
I've been running fairly complex analyses of investment properties for the last year so I've gotten quite comfortable with the numbers for my market and coming up with a fairly accurate opinion. CI101 takes that information to a whole new level of analysis. I feel like the course, while it can apply to smaller commercial deals, really doesn't have much use until you start looking at larger commercial investment deals. All of the examples in the book and practice problems typically revolve around multi-million dollar properties, so it does require some level of sophistication. With that being said, the instructor I had taught me a lot, and did a fantastic job on educating students with a little less working knowledge than me. It certainly can be a good resource, but to quote our instructor "this course is like drinking water from a fire hose".
For the pricetag, it was well worth it for me and I intend on taking the other CCIM courses over the next 18 months, but as a principal, you need to weigh the usefulness between paying for this course, and learning the information here on BP. 95% of the time, you can get away with using a more simplistic model to analyze investment deals for your own use. This course is important if you're trying to showcase an IRR to an investor or you're dealing with a project complex enough that a few percentage points can affect profitability. Other than that, it might put you in a mindset that shows everything being more complicated than it needs to be.
Investor · Morrisville, NC · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 673 votes
8y
@Chirag Shah ... Any particular reason why you want a book? If your goal is to learn MF investing, then here are a few quick steps.
1. Get on loopnet (or your fav site) and search for MF properties for sale.
2. Reach out to brokers and ask for P&L and T-12
3. Run a deal analysis on the property. (Use seller/broker version versus your own version of the data)
4. Post the results here and ask for feedback
5. Repeat every other day.
After a month, you will most likely know a lot and you will have practical experience. It doesn't mean you will know everything, but you will know your next steps.
Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
8y
I love David Lindahl's Multifamily Millions!! Everyday I am living pages 47-130 in the hard cover. I also believe that no one should get a true Multifamily alone on their first few apartment complex purchases. Read Multifamily Millions really well like you are a student and your life depended on it. There are so many land mines you could step on if you have not done this before. Multifamily is nothing like single family.
I currently have 5 apartment complexes in NE Ohio and at one time had 7 apartment complexes and lost my you know what on my first 2 apartment complexes and learned the hard way. Now I am on the process of purchasing 3 more apartment complexes at a tremendous value in the same community I already have 48 front doors in 3 apartment complexes.
These three apartment complexes are 6 blocks to a mile away from my 48 front doors. What is amazing is that I am now beginning to have an effect on market rents, market values, and vacancy rates too. I am beginning to stack all the cards in my favor. A newbie that comes in will not get these value deals or even know what to do with them if they did fall in their laps.
Buyer beware!!
Swanny
Real Estate Broker · Malone, NY · Member since 2013 · 345 posts · 70 votes
8y
Crushing it in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate by Brian Murray was a great read!
Also - you’ll find almost anything you need by reading forums and networking with others on here!
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 28 votes
8y
These are all awesome replies. Thanks for all the suggestions, they've been noted and reserved at the local library.
@Thomas Glenn how was Michael Blank's course, could I receive similar value in the books suggested in this thread?
@Matt Lefebvre thanks for your honest opinion about CI101, I think before I truly jump in I'll invest in the course. For now, reading and learning from others seem to be a cheaper option and this already seems like a fire hose!
@Henri Meli this is great advice. I'm still most comfortable in the MF residential realm and do that every day. I shall proceed to Loopnet analyses soon.
@Michael Swan thanks for the advice, will definitely read that book in detail.
@Craig Garrow I have a friend reading that book, he's said it's pretty good thus far. I agree, already learning so much from this thread alone.
I would read all of the books above, and learn the real estate lingo. I will guarantee you if you pick up a phone and do not know what questions to ask a broker, you will get nowhere. There are no quick steps. Find a mentor/community that has achieved what you want to achieve and learn their framework. Trying to follow a few steps will only frustrate you and you will end up like many other investors who end up saying that investing is risky and there are no deals out there.
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 28 votes
8y
@Gino Barbaro thanks for the advice! I've been crushing the BP podcasts (~2-3 per day), and have heard great things about yours as well. Will have to check it after I complete BP's.
In any case, I've always found it hard to find a community, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough? I'm scheduled to attend 3 meetups this month (April), so hopefully, that is the start of a trend.