Looking for Real Estate Professionals (Vanity)

Self | 11/13/07 | Alberta's Child

[Alberta's Child]

Sorry for the vanity, folks . . . I'm looking to contact any Freepers with a background in real estate -- particularly in the development and/or lease/sale of industrial or commercial properties. I've been involved in several successful ventures on the side in recent years, and I'm seeking some professional advice related to a possible second -- or new! -- career in the business.

[Alberta's Child]

Please Freep-mail me if you think you might be of some help. All replies will be kept confidential!

[Clint N. Suhks]

PING!

[goldstategop]

Look for a reputable local real estate buyers agent with knowledge of the property you are interested in buying for investment. Good luck.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[ShadowDancer]

I recently sold this at a garage sale. You can contact me but I don't come cheap.

[Alberta's Child]

Thanks — but it goes beyond that. I’m looking for people in the industry who might have some advice about the kind of self-education I should undertake in order to potentially get into some specific parts of the business MYSELF sometime in the next couple of years. And by “specific parts of the business” I mean real estate sales, consulting for industrial/commercial developement site selection, etc.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. What kind of commission did you get on that sale?

[TexanToTheCore]

What is your background? College etc.?

[ShadowDancer]

No commission. Just a kid who said ‘I’m lovin it!’

[Bahbah]

I think this is pretty much the business that doug from upland is in and is quite knowledgable about.

[doug from upland]

I have sold and exchanged commercial property and apartments for 30 years. My speciality has been 1031 exchanging and consulting. For ten years I taught RE law, finance, practice, and econ at the college level. I don’t know what help I can be, but send a FReepmail.

[Alberta's Child]

I have a B.S. and an M.S. in civil engineering, and I've worked in private industry for consulting firms for the last 15+ years. I've had a few successful real estate ventures with some risk capital left over from previous job (it's a long story), and I've found that I may have a real talent for the "real estate" side of the land development process (my company does a lot of work for real estate developers). I have a real affinity for how things work and how the relationship between transportation and land use can be put to good use.

I've reached a point in my engineering career where there may not be much more room for me to grow, so I'm looking for ways to take advantage of my business skills in order to supplement -- and potentially even replace -- my income down the road.

[Alberta's Child]

Thanks a million. See #11 . . . I’ll Freep-mail you shortly.

[JerseyHighlander]

You want to look at the NYU Real Estate Masters Program. It’s the best you can find for doing this in NJ. The programs at Wharton for Real Estate, and Columbia for Real Estate Finance and Development are also top notch. Sadly Rutgers is fer shiate regarding Real Estate Development Masters.

You can find some more info on the MIT opencourseware website for MIT’s master’s level real estate courses, I found them pretty good fore a quick review. Syllabus and course readings are worth it.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#SloanSchoolofManagement

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Urban-Studies-and-Planning/11-431JFall-2006/CourseHome/index.htm

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-021jSpring2004/CourseHome/index.htm

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Urban-Studies-and-Planning/11-432JSpring-2007/CourseHome/index.htm

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Urban-Studies-and-Planning/11-434JSpring-2007/CourseHome/index.htm

etc etc, there are more there too

[exit82]

AC, you can’t do better than Doug. I see you have already made contact. I was going to suggest him, but wasn’t quick enough!

[Tenacious 1]

You want to be a broker. If you can break into the market and have enough to starve for a bit, take a lower fee and reach out to the developers and tenants. Brokerage is where the money is at as long as you are shooting for the stars. However, you only make money when the deal closes.

Alternatively, if you have the capitol (or the credit worthiness) to fund the full development, there is high reward and high risk.

Now is a rough time to be breaking into this type of market. Of course, in a couple of years (maybe sooner) there will be some cheap property to improve and flip.

I Freepmailed you as well.

[PAR35]

I’d probably start by getting a real estate license. And I would try to get a job at one of the big property management companies for some ‘on the job’ training and to develop contacts.

[Alberta's Child]

Thanks a bunch. Is it really all that practical to start as a broker on an informal (or part-time) basis? This is something that I’ve thought about in the past, but in the last couple of weeks I’ve been approached by a big multi-disciplinary engineering firm that has expressed interest in creating a small joint-venture subsidiary with my company to market a combination of my company’s expertise in traffic operations, their major civil design expertise, and my interest/acumen in industrial real estate. This might be a venue through which I can get the proper real estate licensing while still keeping my full-time job.

[Alberta's Child]

Thanks. Do you know if it’s possible (or if this varies by state) to get any kind of certifications/licenses specific to commercial/industrial real estate without working extensively in that field?

[JerseyHighlander]

Not sure which state you want to get your broker’s license in.

If you plan to get your broker’s license in NY, you have until June 30th 2007 to get it approved before a change in the licensing system that will force you to do 100+ hours of continuing education every 2 years, for as long as you have the license. So get cracking. In NY state, being enrolled in a real estate masters program in a Uni in NY State is all you need to get a broker’s license. NJ has a stricter licensing regime, sometimes they even ask for five years of being an agent before granting a brokers license, BUT you are a civil engineer, your work experience might (probably) would qualify as industry experience.

If in North New Jersey, check out Kovats Real Estate School, Mr. Kovats runs it and he wrote a good part of the state regulations of brokers in NJ. http://www.geocities.com/ifjkovats/

[JerseyHighlander]

serious mistake of a typo: If you plan to get your broker’s license in NY, you have until June 30th 2008 to get it approved before a change in the licensing system that will force you to do 100+ hours of continuing education every 2 years, for as long as you have the license.