Real Estate Concentration

Undergraduate Program in New Brunswick

Careers in Real Estate

Real estate is a universal part of our daily lives; it’s where we live, where we work, where we shop, and where we gather with friends and family. Making informed decisions about the use, acquisition, and development of real estate is essential to both our financial prosperity and our personal well-being. By offering a creative and innovative curriculum that combines rigorous academic training with real world insight, the concentration in Real Estate at Rutgers provides the skills necessary for a successful career in real estate.

The Real Estate concentration is available to all students within Rutgers Business School on the New Brunswick campus. As proposed, there are two pathways for students to complete the program – one for Finance majors and one for students in other majors.

Learning Goals

  • Use market and lease information to value income-producing property and assess the risks inherent in investment in property markets
  • Acquire a working knowledge of mortgage markets and financing alternatives
  • Evaluate rewards and risks associated with a potential development opportunity
  • Use market and demographic information to determine the best use for a given property
  • Understand how legal issues impact and shape the selection, acquisition, development, financing, ownership, and management of real property

Advantages

Real estate offers a wide variety of careers paths in a range of commercial sectors – Investment Analyst, Asset Management, Development, Commercial and Residential Brokerage, Appraisal, Commercial and Investment Banking, Property Management and Mortgage Brokerage.

The Center for Real Estate will provide guidance and aid in the form of scholarships, mentoring, internships and career opportunities in the real estate profession. Students enrolled in the concentration will receive precedence for scholarships and internship opportunities.

The Concentration's Structure

The concentration consists of 4 courses (12 credits).

  • Essentials of Real Estate Finance provides the tools necessary to analyze income-producing property from the perspective of an institutional investor. Students use lease and market information to develop pro forma cash flow projections for a given property and evaluate the risk and return associated with investment. The core Finance course, Financial Management, is a prerequisite for Essentials of Real Estate Finance.
  • The second component is Real Estate Law, which offers an overview of the legal issues confronting the real estate executive.
  • Commercial Debt Markets provides an in-depth overview of both public and private sources of commercial debt financing.
  • Finally, Real Estate Development examines the commercial real estate development process focusing on typical strategies, challenges, and risks, as well as providing an overview of the basics of development finance and value.

There are two paths to completion of the concentration – one path for finance majors, another for RBS students in major areas other than finance:

Non-Finance majors Finance majors
Real Estate Law (33:851:350) Real Estate Law (33:851:350)
Essentials of Real Estate Finance (33:851:380) Real Estate Finance and Mortgage-Backed Securities (33:390:435)
Commercial Debt Markets (33:851:470)

Development (33:851:432)
Commercial Debt Markets (33:851:470)

Development (33:851:432)

To maximize the benefit from being part of the Center for Real Estate, students should take the Real Estate Finance and Law courses no later than the fall semester of their junior year. This allows students to take advantage of mentoring opportunities will provide them with the requisite knowledge to compete for internship opportunities within the industry.

Suggested course sequence:

Course Course number Timing
Real Estate Law 33:851:350 Fall of sophomore year or Fall of Junior year
Essentials of Real of Estate Finance or Real Estate Finance & Mortgage-Backed Securities 33:851:380 or 33:390:435 Spring of sophomore year or Fall of Junior year
Commercial Debt Markets 33:851:470 Fall of Senior year
Development 33:851:432 Spring of Senior year

Learn More

For more information, contact David Frame, Associate Director of Curriculum and Research for the Rutgers Center for Real Estate.