MBA, practical to a real estate professional or not?
Real Estate Agent · Worcester, MA · Member since 2023 · 88 posts · 52 votes
MBA, practical to a real estate professional or not?
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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ voteswhere I do think it helps is if your raising money from folks and or with banks..
MBA gives some credibility for sure.. Does it make you a better agent dont know about that
but certainly cant hurt ..
35 Replies
- Member since 2024 · 23 posts · 14 votes2y
Getting an MBA to be your own boss is absolutely crazy in my opinion. Want to impress clients/banks/investors then put together a great business plan and come in with some numbers that work.
An MBA really only impresses folks with MBAs. I should note that I have 2 bachelor's degrees so maybe I am one of those jealous folks mentioned above. Unless you are looking for a corporate gig I would say skip it. One last thing. Adding an MBA to a stem field degree is significantly better than adding one to say a business administration degree. Most people who scream the importance of an MBA went to business school and that was the logical next step.
- Real Estate Agent · Worcester, MA · Member since 2023 · 88 posts · 52 votes2y
Quote from @Ryan Arth:
I was in a similar enough position, so I thought I would weigh in. A few years ago I was looking into Masters in RE development programs, for knowledge and for a credential that could be used to work under/partner with an existing developer. There were no local programs, all would be online.
I was ultimately swayed by people in my orbit to get an Executive MBA (no specializations, canned program), for the network and for the serendipitous possibilities that could come from my fellow students and the professors. I went to the best school available locally, due to familial obligations.
I finished a year ago, and I was very critical of the quality of the content, given the cost. Did I learn anything earth shattering, no. I had a Finance undergrad, a grad cert in RE Investment, and had studied business for twenty years post undergrad.
I did get introduced to a local group of mostly alumni that is focused on the buying and growing of existing businesses, which I believe will be more valuable than the time and cost of the degree. Most of the projects that I am working on right now are a result of that group and I am actively searching for an acquisition target in a RE related industry.
Would I be where I am without it, I can't say that. Maybe I would have been somewhere equally interesting if I had gotten the Masters in RE Development, which I still might do someday, given enough free time.
Does anyone that I meet say "Oh, you have an MBA?", no. But they do say "Oh, you went to Case?", (for what that is worth). And where I am headed I think that the credentialing and clout that carries locally is beneficial, though definitely not required. You could bootstrap the education through self study and reach a similar network otherwise, but I made a call and saw it through.
If you are not in a corporate environment, and you are paying for it yourself, the ROI is going to be what you make of it.
Thanks for sharing Ryan, I like that your story brings up the difference between online versus local for the degree as well. I can't say that crossed my mind. I agree that the sphere of influence created by going through the degree process and meeting all sorts of folks related to it could be huge for opening doors that may or may not be missed without it. Perhaps something equal shows up or maybe even better as you mentioned but I we can't see the future! I'm more than likely going to do it, more a matter of when not if.
Thanks again.
- Real Estate Agent · Worcester, MA · Member since 2023 · 88 posts · 52 votes2y
Quote from @Anil Dham:
@Matthew Gentile
Let me give u the 2 word answer
It's useless
Hi Anil,
Thanks for answering! Do you have an MBA or Real estate masters that has not been of benefit to you?
- Real Estate Agent · Worcester, MA · Member since 2023 · 88 posts · 52 votes2y
Quote from @Joshua VanName:
Getting an MBA to be your own boss is absolutely crazy in my opinion. Want to impress clients/banks/investors then put together a great business plan and come in with some numbers that work.
An MBA really only impresses folks with MBAs. I should note that I have 2 bachelor's degrees so maybe I am one of those jealous folks mentioned above. Unless you are looking for a corporate gig I would say skip it. One last thing. Adding an MBA to a stem field degree is significantly better than adding one to say a business administration degree. Most people who scream the importance of an MBA went to business school and that was the logical next step.
Good news for me my undergrad degree is Biochemistry! I wouldn't say I'm opposed to a corporate gig in real estate, I would love for my current full time job to complement my real estate ventures and expose me to experience in real estate deal flow at higher levels for sure. Can I get that doing what I'm doing now, absolutely. I don't think an MBA is required for me specifically to be successful but with where I'm at and where my sanity is maintained, I think it will provide a good deal of benefit over cost of acquisition.
- Real Estate Agent · Pembroke Pines, FL · Member since 2024 · 39 posts · 20 votes2y
Quote from @Matthew Gentile:
I have long been weighing the option of acquiring an MBA as it seems to be the most practical real world degree for someone developing their business acumen and career. As a real estate agent and investor is this required obviously not, but I wonder if anyone can share success stories in regard to an MBA within the real estate world. Has it made a major difference in your business?
Experience is king I'm well aware but...
Is it worth getting? Is the knowledge helpful in this space, any particular specialization, entrepreneurship focus... etc? Any advice on this topic?Thank you for sharing!
If you are looking to get hired in a corporate job, MBA is almost a requirement, but if you choose to work for yourself as an investor/agent there's really no need for it other than it looks good on your profile/resume. More valuable IMO is a real estate designation like a CCIM or SIOR etc. especially if you are focusing on a career as a RE agent.
- Member since 2024 · 5 posts · 0 votes2yIn real estate and business in general, you need to be ambitious and be street smart, not book smart.
I have an MBA. No advantage. As others mentions, unless you go into corporate where an MBA is the foot in the door you may need for some positions.
You can pick everything an MBA program teaches you from YouTube. And 99% of it is academia nonsense. I personally think that in the near future even colleges will be outdated. Very few things I got out of an expensive 4-year college that I actually use day-to-day. - Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes2y
Quote from @Matthew Gentile:
I have long been weighing the option of acquiring an MBA as it seems to be the most practical real world degree for someone developing their business acumen and career. As a real estate agent and investor is this required obviously not, but I wonder if anyone can share success stories in regard to an MBA within the real estate world. Has it made a major difference in your business?
Experience is king I'm well aware but...
Is it worth getting? Is the knowledge helpful in this space, any particular specialization, entrepreneurship focus... etc? Any advice on this topic?Thank you for sharing!
Here's my opinion which is influenced by my partner. He has an engineering degree with an MBA which he used while working corporate. While I'm not saying an MBA is required for real estate the benefit to our business is focusing on establishing systems & processes to run our business along with metrics to monitor how we are doing. The biggest influence from the MBA program was the increase in financial acumen. This insight allowed him to run a division of a corporation and he has translated that into Real Estate.
Do you need an MBA to increase your financial acumen? No. But if can get it then I say go for it. If the real estate doesn't work out then you can apply what you learn someplace else.
- 2yKristi KandelPro MemberDeveloper · Fort Myers Beach, FL · Member since 2018 · 383 posts · 195 votes
Quote from @Matthew Gentile:
I have long been weighing the option of acquiring an MBA as it seems to be the most practical real world degree for someone developing their business acumen and career. As a real estate agent and investor is this required obviously not, but I wonder if anyone can share success stories in regard to an MBA within the real estate world. Has it made a major difference in your business?
Experience is king I'm well aware but...
Is it worth getting? Is the knowledge helpful in this space, any particular specialization, entrepreneurship focus... etc? Any advice on this topic?Thank you for sharing!
@Matthew Gentile if you are trying to be an architect, engineer, attorney, etc additional education is helpful. If you would like to be a developer you don’t need to hold any certificates or licenses.
I’ve been a RE developer the past 17 years with a majority of my career developing hundreds of projects in California. 2-30 acre developments for commercial, industrial, and residential projects. Our industry does a terrible job at sharing information and educating others. The institutional courses on development aren’t practical to real life development and how it actually works.
If you DM me I can send you links to free monthly webinars we host on RE development. I also started an education company with a full development course using my 10,000 hours of expertise to teach others how to be local developers in their community.
- Local Real Estate Developer: We empower local entrepreneurs and investors to transform underutilized properties into awesome community assets that benefit all.
- Developer · Cleveland / Akron, OH · Member since 2008 · 922 posts · 399 votes2y
To piggyback on what Kristi said, there are also a lot of specific courses out there to get specialized knowledge. For development, like she mentioned, the Urban Land Institute has online courses on various aspects of development, as well as on financial modeling for R.E.. CCIM also has a variety of online classes on the same subjects. And Linkedin learning has online classes on R.E. modeling. Then there are the four-ish class R.E. certificate programs at Cornell, Harvard, etc.
The mentioned classes range from like $79 to $13,000 (for a full certificate). So there is a wealth of knowledge out there.
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