This is the first part in a series called Diary of a Grad Student.  Our writer is a current Master of Science in Real Estate candidate at Baruch College in New York.  She will be chronicling her everyday experiences as a student in the graduate program.  Check back here each week for more!

Why am I pursuing a second Master’s Degree in real estate? That’s the question I get asked the most when people find out I’m working towards my MS in Real Estate degree at Baruch College. The answer is quite simple: I’ve always been interested in real estate finance and am driven to pursue commercial real estate as a career.

My interest in real estate was first awakened when I was first pursuing my master in finance degree. I realized that though U.S. commercial property market took a hit during the 2008-2009 recession, it had experienced annual gains since 2010.  The market has since recovered almost all recession-era losses, as both commercial real estate prices and rents collected from commercial property are on the rise.  This realization piqued my interest in the possibilities of commercial real estate.

From this moment, the idea of taking CRE (Commercial Real Estate) or CMBS (Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities) research as my future career path started growing.  I like the fact that real estate is essentially a hybrid asset class, since it has both an equity investment/capital gain component as well as a fixed income/coupon portion in the form of rents. I also find commercial real estate interesting as different segments may perform differently, which provides a challenge for any analyst. While malls may be the next bigshot, offices and apartments have recovered past the prior peaks. With this constant movement in trends, commercial real estate is a non-stop, exhilarating, evolving and dynamic industry.

To better achieve my career expectation, I started the MS in Real Estate (MSRE) program at Baruch, not only because New York is the best place to get exposed to real estate, but also because Baruch provides a lot of great opportunities to communicate with professionals in commercial real estate industries.  Through my classes and numerous networking events, I can learn more about the industry trends and gain insight into market opportunities, directly from the experts.

Besides the knowledge provided in fundamental real estate courses, the MSRE program at Baruch also focuses on the use of advanced analytical tools such as Argus and Excel modeling, which can be very competitive skillsets for real estate major students in the job market.

Having a sense of the real commercial real estate industry is also quite critical; the MSRE program at Baruch provided exactly what I expected, as the program has great relations with big names in the real estate industry. The real estate department invites professionals in the commercial real estate industry to the campus for panels or networking events on regular basis to keep students up-to-date on the latest industry trends.  As President of the Real Estate Club at Baruch, I’ve been able to invite guest speakers to share their experiences in the industry in order to inspire more students like myself who would like to commit to real estate finance.

In general, I really appreciate the MSRE program at Baruch College.  I know I made the right choice with this program, and know that my experiences here will benefit my future career.

– Shuo Wang

On September 15th, 2017, the Department of Real Estate, in collaboration with the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC), hosted a workshop entitled CMBS 101: An Introduction to Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities at Baruch College. Though I have had courses regarding advanced structured products before, the workshop itself was very rewarding as I could get this opportunity to see CMBS markets from a different perspective.

The speakers were Constantine Korologos, Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group; and Shari Linnick, Vice President of Client Services at Trepp, LLC.

I was very impressed with the abundant materials that the CMBS workshop provided. This session was delivered in four sections: The CMBS Process, Build-A-Bond, The CMBS Market, and Investors of CMBS. Discussion also included such fundamental concepts as review of the flow of funds, transaction timetable, and subordinate debt. I had been trying to get a better understanding of the CMBS market and how it works, and this workshop went beyond my expectations in providing a thorough explanation of CMBS.

In addition to learning about the fundamentals of CMBS capital markets, I enjoyed hearing about the panelists’ personal experiences working in the CMBS markets. Constantine’s discussion of his personal experience during the financial crisis was very eye-opening. Through his stories, we received firsthand accounts of how the crisis hit the global capital markets a decade ago.  It was also extremely interesting to witness the history of CMBS regulations, as such information is critical when researching current CMBS capital markets.

An important takeaway from this workshop was Shari and Constantine’s reflections on job opportunities in the CMBS world.  I learned that students who are interested in the CMBS industry don’t necessarily need to break into big banks to get in the door; other job opportunities at rating agencies and buy-side shops can also be decent opportunities for graduates looking for entry level positions.

I’m extremely grateful to Baruch College and CREFC for giving me this opportunity to find out more about commercial mortgage-backed securities. Workshops like this are greatly beneficial in helping graduate students like me prepare for our future career searches.

– Shuo Wang, MS in Real Estate

Last Friday, we had the pleasure of hosting an interactive workshop at our campus in collaboration with the CRE Finance Council. This workshop, titled “CMBS 101: An Introduction to Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities”, drew real estate students from Baruch College and discussed the intricacies of CMBS’s in an accessible way.  The panelists included such leading industry experts as Constantine Korologos, Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group; Shari Linnick, Vice President for Client Services at Trepp, LLC; and Hillman Lam, Adjunct Lecturer at Baruch College.

Following the workshop was a networking luncheon, where students had the opportunity to speak with the lecturers and discuss the real estate industry at large.

We would like to thank the speakers and all the attendants for making this event a success! You can find more details about the topics at https://cmbs.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9NjMyNjU2OSZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9ODI5MDgzNDYy

The School of Business Administration at the University of Miami hosts an Annual Case Competition on Impact Investing in Commercial Real Estate. It is open to graduate students in real estate from universities in the U.S. and asks teams of student to identify a vacant or under-utilized property and propose a use or uses that include a socially or environmentally impactful component. The prize money is generous!

You can learn more about last year’s competition at our website: http://www.bus.miami.edu/our-perspective/areas-of-excellence/real-estate/impact-investing-competition.html

If you are interested or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to professor Yildirim ([email protected]) and Kyu Lee ([email protected]), research associate at Newman Real Estate Institute.