MRED Curriculum

Course Descriptions

RED 500 Real Estate Development and the Economy (2 units - core course)
Instructor: Peter Gordon
Students are introduced to Economic Thinking (ET). Developers survive and prosper by making a very large number of good forecasts and acting on them, accepting the risk that accompanies any action. Developers live in a sea of information and do best if they process the incoming data better than others. ET, then, helps on three levels; we better understand: 1) economic trends; 2) the evolving policy environment; and 3) local conditions (location, location, location). This course will also equip students to benefit from other RED courses such as market analysis, approvals, finance and law. Societies best provision themselves over time when markets allocate scarce resources. Why? Markets are informationally efficient; they coordinate the complex plans of uncountable decision-makers. Markets require institutions that protect property and contracts and that engender trust. The common law has evolved a remarkable set of institutions that have these effects. These necessary conditions are complemented by the activities of risk-takers. Entrepreneurs (in our case developers) are the heroes not only because they accept risk but also because they are specialists in the important area of discovery. They discover the complex nature of demand and they discover efficient ways to meet it. It is in their interest and in society's interest for developers to do all this and to do it well.

RED 509 Market Analysis for Real Estate (4 units - core course)
Instructor: Delores Conway
Focusing on the task of analyzing markets for real estate development/investment, this course is intended to provide real estate students with the substantive knowledge and practical skills required for successful careers in an increasingly sophisticated real estate industry. To this end, the underlying objectives are to enhance the students' knowledge of the functioning of various urban real estate markets - residential, office, retail, industrial; to familiarize them with modern market research methodologies at the macro- and micro- (site- and project-specific) analysis levels; to acquaint them with available data and computerized market analysis packages; and, as such, to prepare them for becoming informed players in the marketplace and sophisticated users of real estate market studies. Building on these objectives, the course exposes students to basic real estate economics delving into the question of how residential and nonresidential real estate markets work and takes a close look into the bottom line questions, analysis components, and methodologies involved in carrying out market analysis for different property types. A dual perspective is adopted: a macro view, focusing on how to assess and forecast market strength; and a micro view, focusing on the analysis/evaluation of locations, proactive design, the quantification of space absorption, and the estimation of achievable space rents.

RED 541 Finance Fundamentals for Real Estate Development (2 units - core course)
Instructors: Mark Oliver and Victoria Valentine
This course provides broad exposure to the general principles of finance. The course is designed to provide an introduction to capital markets and financial institutions as well as to valuation and risk management. This is an introductory, graduate-level course in finance specifically designed for students planning a further study in real estate finance and development. It is designed to provide the student with the necessary economic and finance concepts to provide a basis for a more intensive study of real estate applications. The markets for real estate assets are becoming more and more integrated into public markets for equity and debt with the rapid growth of the REIT sector and the CMBS market during the 1990s. As a consequence, tools that have been used in finance have a greater opportunity for applications in a real estate environment. This course will provide the student with the basic financial analytic tools that are critical for understanding the determination of prices and values in the real estate investment, finance and development arena.

RED 542 Finance of Real Estate Development (3 units - core course)
Instructor: Chris Redfearn and Tracey Seslen
This course provides graduate exposure to theory, fundamentals and methods in real estate finance and development. The main topics covered in the course include real estate investment analysis and valuation, real estate entities and taxation, real estate finance, leases and corporate real estate, the finance of real estate development and distressed real estate. The orientation is toward the analysis of income producing property types. The course will discuss general trends in real estate capital markets to provide context but more detailed coverage of these topics occurs in RED 544. Not much time will be devoted to the single family housing market. This course covers a critical set of analytic techniques and concepts essential for students planning careers in almost any aspect of real estate. It is also a valuable course for finance majors who may become involved with real estate at the corporate level or alternatively as investors, investment advisors or providers of capital. The real estate industry has experienced significant change during the decade of the 1990s. In particular, institutions and public markets play a much larger role today then they did in the 1980s. This course is designed to provide the student with essential tools to understand how real estate value is determined, created and influenced so as to compete in this new environment.

RED 544 Real Estate Capital Markets (2 units - core course)
Instructor: Raphael Bostic
This course seeks to acquaint the student with the structure, instruments, and institutions of real estate capital markets. In so doing, the course considers the linkages between real estate and general capital markets as well as the major features of both residential and non-residential primary and secondary mortgage markets, notably including structure and performance of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The course provides exposure to public sources of real estate equity finance notably including real estate investment trusts (REITs). Finally, the course reviews recent developments in global real estate capital markets.

RED 545 Advanced Financial Modeling (2 units - elective course)
Instructor: Ehud G. Mouchly
This course is designed to provide students with a competitive edge by training them in efficient quantitative problem solving and decision-making using computerized modeling. The advanced nature of the course refers to the complexity of the problems to be analyzed and to the technical level of spreadsheet analysis and modeling. Specific topics include: dynamic relationships between absorption and lease-up, revenues and cost projections; complex debt and equity financing; joint venture/partnership analyses and deal modeling; modeling of land development, home building, and mixed-use projects; systematic treatment of real estate portfolios; and systematic and inferential sensitivity analysis. Prerequisite: Successful completion of RED 542 or FBE 591 and working knowledge of Microsoft's Excel.

RED 546 Applications of Real Estate Finance to Problems of Development (3 units - core course)
Instructor: Chris Redfearn
This course is designed to facilitate mastery of the core skills required of real estate professionals, be they developers, financiers, brokers, investment managers, etc. Each position requires the ability to think critically about valuation and the elements used in its construction. The class helps develop this faculty by exercising the student's analytical abilities in a number of different contexts. These include acquisition, development and financing of investment real estate, asset management, corporate real estate, lease analysis, distressed properties and the real estate workout process - including bankruptcy. The course is appropriate for students interested in real estate with strong finance skills and a desire to broaden their exposure to some of the unique aspects of real estate.

RED 547 Project Management and Construction (2 units - core course)
Instructors: Michael Bayard and Bryan Jackson
Risk management in the building phase of development. Architectural and engineering aspects of construction management for the real estate developer.

RED 551 The Approval Process (4 units - core course)
Instructor: Michael Keston, Allan Kotin, Paul Novak, and Nancy Burke
This course is designed to familiarize students with the project entitlement process, its land use component elements and associated developer fees, exactions and other infrastructure finance sources. The course will also examine a variety of ethical situations ranging from insider trading to corporate conscience issues and will explore specific negotiation techniques and strategies. The course deals with the process that begins with the project application and ends with issuance of a building permit. It focuses on five broad aspects of the project entitlement process: (1) the legal and bureaucratic procedures; (2) the critical nature of community involvement and government relations; (3) the financial impacts associated with the entitlement process; (4) ethical dilemmas which may be experienced by the developer; and (5) the negotiation required with community groups, government agencies and land owners. Specific topics include the environmental impact review (EIR) process, land use entitlement, fiscal impact analysis, financing techniques for infrastructure, managing community opposition, governmental relations, and Federal and State legislative impacts arising from Federal Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.

RED 562 Legal Issues in Real Estate Development (4 units - core course)
Instructor: Marcia Gordon or Tom Muller
Ownership and transfer of real estate; formation and enforcement of contracts; business associations; environmental regulation; taxation of property transfers; acquiring, financing, leasing of commercial property.

RED 563 Introduction to Asset Management (2 units - elective course)
Instructor: Stanley Iezman
The course is designed to provide students with the fundamentals of how finance, property management, leasing, accounting, law, appraisal, and market analysis intersect to create value and allow institutional real estate owners to make intelligent buy/hold/sell decisions. This course is a fundamental course on the role of the asset manager in the acquisition, management, and disposition process and how to identify and create value with regard to the investment process. The asset management process is fully integrated into the design, development, and acquisition of all real estate assets and this course seeks to explore the basics surrounding this increasingly important discipline.

RED 564 Issues in Asset Management (2 units - elective course)
Instructor: Stanley Iezman
This course is a continuation of the Introduction to Asset Management of Real Estate class in which we explore various aspects of the ownership process in greater depth including creating investment strategies to support asset acquisition and asset disposition, and evaluating and creating hold/sell decisions, which will then be incorporated into viable business plans for individual assets. Leasing issues surrounding retail, office, industrial, and the multi-family product type will be evaluated and explored in greater detail, which allows the investor to integrate this process into the investment decision. Prerequisite: MRED 563 (unless approved by instructor)

RED 571 Introduction to Appraisal (4 units - elective course)
Instructor: Victoria Valentine
This course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the process of and basis for estimating real estate value. We begin with an overview of the valuation process, and conclude with preparation and presentation of a self-contained real estate appraisal report on a student selected property. Students will learn to examine highest and best use, and to reconcile varying value indicators. We will explore a full range of valuation techniques, including cost, sales comparison and income approaches to real estate value. Students will leave with an understanding of the mathematical procedures used to analyze data, and to translate present and future income stream projections into market value opinions. Financial leverage, risk analysis and ways to derive and support capitalization and discount rates from the market will be demonstrated. Sources of market data will be discussed, and students will learn to efficiently and accurately acquire data, derive relevant information from that data, and interpret and test the reasonableness of conclusions from that data.

RED 572 Advanced Appraisal Approaches (2 units - elective course)
Instructors: Vincent Maher
Highest and best use. Advanced income capitalization. Advanced cost and sales comparison approaches. Advanced applications.

RED 573 Design History and Criticism (2 units - core course)
Instructor: Elizabeth Falletta
The history of the built environment is the history of man's ability to manipulate shelter, economy, society, and climate to his desired effects. This course will synthesize an understanding of the history of built spaces with the ability to evaluate and critically analyze the built manifestations of man's environment. Students will explore the importance and role of the design disciplines in contemporary development, and will attempt to place current planning and design trends, theories, and practices, into an historical perspective. At this point in history, private-sector developers bear a large responsibility for initiating vast and far-reaching physical changes at every scale of the environment. However, despite their power to impact physical and environmental design, they seldom possess a professional background or more than a working knowledge of Urban Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, Cultural History, Preservation, or Landscape Architecture. Fortunately, the most notable and successful developers of our time have cultivated very keen design sensibilities. Indeed, careful analysis of "trophy" or "portfolio" quality projects reveal a deliberate, necessary tension in the development process between free-market forces and the power of creative imagination. This course will attempt to understand something of this perverse and sometimes not so subtle relationship between artistic vision and material gain. The goal of this class is for student to cultivate their own personal understanding of the design disciplines (and their relationship to the development process) through the critical and selective integration of concepts presented here, and through the sharpening of their own observational skills.

RED 574 Building Typologies (2 units - core course)
Instructor: Johannes Van Tilburg
In this course, students will examine the role of physical design in relation to fundamental building types, in order to understand the primary design and planning issues and to learn to evaluate any particular design. The class will survey five principal building types of real estate development: single and multi-family housing, retail, industrial, mixed use, and office. Site visits, lectures, slide presentations, assignments, and readings will focus on these building families, their fundamental ordering principles, and the most common subtypes. Students will look at design prototypes, i.e., buildings that are canonical in their families. The focus will be on the physical patterns the building types embody at the level of the urban context, the street, the site, and the building form and organization. For each building type, the course will explore the criteria for good design and the foundations for such an evaluation. The course is intended to introduce students to a fuller understanding of any single building, in its city, for its intended purpose, so that they will approach any development undertaking with informed judgment about its design. The course will explicitly examine the relationship between good design and good business in development, to determine if and when architectural quality contributes to the success of a project.

RED 575 Community Design and Site Planning (4 units - core course)
Instructors: Steve Kellenberg and Carl Meyer
The primary objective of this course is to provide an understanding of the various planning and design issues that should be addressed as part of any real estate development project. The lab is intended to help students to be able to effectively visualize and communicate their ideas about a site. Students should complete the semester capable of assessing a property for its development potential, understanding the various factors that define the size's particular character, understanding the effect that zoning and jurisdictional standards have on the development potential of a site and preparing site plans for commercial, retail, residential, mixed use and tourist projects of various densities. This course is not meant to teach architectural design or to stress drawing techniques, rather the emphasis is on understanding basic site planning concepts including circulation, open space, pedestrian access, parking, service and typical building layouts. However, these concepts can only be learned through hands-on experience in drawing and preparing site plans. Therefore, each of the assignments will require drafting.

RED 583 International Development Opportunities (2 units - elective course)
Instructor: Yongheng Deng
The course covers a series of special topics in international real estate development opportunities. The areas that will be emphasized include current and potential opportunities for investment and development in international real estate markets, financial and market analyses, cultural, political and social-economic considerations of doing business in international real estate development, and the cross-border valuation approach. It will also discuss real estate cycles and recent financial crises in Asia, and what can we learn from them. The course is appropriate for students emphasizing international development with necessary real estate development and finance backgrounds, or students emphasizing corporate finance and investment with a desire to broaden their exposure to some of the unique aspects of international real estate development opportunities. Students who are interested in domestic real estate development may also benefit from the course through studying experiences of real estate development in other countries, particularly during the periods of financial crises and economic downturn.

RED 585 Comparative International Development (2 units - elective course)
Instructor: Yongheng Deng
This international real estate development workshop is designed for graduate students in business, construction management, policy, planning, and real estate development with an interest in international real estate markets. Students will obtain first-hand knowledge of doing business in an international setting. The course includes a 10-day site visit to an international setting with site visits and meetings with real estate professionals abroad. In the past, students have traveled to China, Germany, and Australia. Prerequisite: Enrollment in RED 583.

RED 590 Directed Research (1-12, max. 12 units - Students may elect to pursue an independent study project under the supervision of a faculty member of the student's choice. The instructor and the student will collaborate on the nature and scope of the project and determine the appropriate number of units.

RED 598 Real Estate Product Development
The MRED program includes a series of courses focusing on an evaluation of various real estate development product types. Individual classes are:

RED 598 Affordable Housing (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: Raphael Bostic
The focus of this course is on affordable housing and the policies that shape housing markets. The course begins with an overview of the economics of housing markets, including a discussion of why affordable housing is an issue at all. Although the development of affordable housing ultimately involves the same steps as any other development, the special circumstances of the target client makes the policy context especially important. As a consequence, the course places attention on the policies that promote affordable housing. One segment examines rental housing markets, and covers topics such as public housing, the Section 8 program, and employment-related programs designed to improve a household's housing prospects. Another segment examines homeownership, and examines its social importance as well as policies designed to make homeownership affordable, including the mortgage interest deduction, anti-discrimination and fair lending laws, and zoning and development requirements. These are then applied to the development of affordable housing, using concrete examples of successful and unsuccessful projects to highlight the challenges and opportunities that such development affords.

RED 598 An Entrepreneurial Approach to Home Building (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: Ira Norris
This course explores the homebuilding business from an entrepreneur CEO's viewpoint. The student theoretically forms a homebuilding company, creates a business plan and pursues a homebuilding project by studying the following disciplines of a successful homebuilding company. To a lesser degree, course discussions will also include the development of multi-family housing. Specific topics addressed include: land acquisition, product development, competitive analysis, the entitlement process, land development, purchasing and construction, equity and debt financing, and feasibility analysis.

RED 598 Multi-Family and Single-Family Property Acquisition (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: Michael Keston
This course is designed to familiarize students with the acquisition, project feasibility, land development and product selection process for single family and multi family residential communities. The communities analyzed will include 20 to 100 unit single family detached projects, a large 2500 unit master planned community with a mixture of land use and product types and apartment projects with 30 to 400 units. Topics to be discussed include: engineering, market and economic feasibility analysis; financial proforma analysis and residual land value analysis; Letters of Intent (LOI) to purchase sites; community marketing issues, including price-value graphs, product amenities, product segmentation, sales and/or rental absorption; and site selection criteria. This course is primarily intended for students interested in careers in Project Management, Forward Planning and Land/Property Acquisition.

RED 598 Multi-Family Development (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: David K. Robbins
This course focuses on the specific topics, issues and complexities of developing residential for-sale and for-rent units in a multifamily format - i.e. multiple, separate homes within the same building. The course begins with an introduction to multifamily development in Southern California, including its history and increasing popularity, and then moves into the various issues specific to entitling, designing (architectural and engineering), building and finally renting or selling multifamily product. The course will also study the economic feasibility of developing multifamily product, including investigating appropriate markets for such product, municipalities’ affordable housing requirements and their impacts on the developer's decision-making, and understanding the costs and financing of multifamily development. Finally, the course will investigate the complexities of development of mixed-use projects, i.e. the combination of residential housing and (most often) retail space within the same building, and development of transit-oriented multifamily projects. The overall course objective is to give students an excellent understanding of multifamily development as Southern California increasingly changes to a more densely populated environment in which high density housing will play a key role in serving the residential needs of our population.

RED 598 Office and Industrial Development (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: James Smith
The office and industrial development course will provide students with a framework to analyze development and investment in office and industrial real estate projects. Topics covered in the course will include: how to find, acquire, develop and market projects; market and economic feasibility; proforma and residual land value analysis (using Argus Software); site and building design and layout; rehab versus ground-up development projects; speculative versus build-to-suit; lease negotiations and satisfying tenant requirements; construction and permanent project financing. Course assignments will also include feasibility analysis of an actual development project.

RED 598 Retail Development (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructors: Robert Champion and Chris Wilson
This course will provide students with a broad introduction to retail product types, tenants, proformas, acquisitions, leasing strategies, financing and entitlements for retail development projects. Students will learn to identify, coordinate, and implement the major elements of retail development: analyzing acquisition opportunities; evaluating likely user demand; choosing appropriate product types; developing a site plan; defining tenant-mix; determining financial feasibility; structuring and obtaining financing; implementing a selected leasing plan; and managing retail assets.

RED 598 Timeshare/Vacation Resort/Hotel Development (4 units - core/elective option)
Instructors: Bruce Baltin and David Brown
This course will provide an overview of the timeshare, resort, and hotel industries. Major topics to be covered are: resort design; entitlements and construction; finance; marketing and sales; management and operating issues unique to these product types. Case studies and site visits are an integral component of the instruction.

RED 598 Urban Infill as an Economic Development Tool (2 units - core/elective option)
Instructor: Renata Simril
Communities across the state are increasingly discovering an alternative to conventional development patterns that cause urban sprawl, destroy open land, siphon vitality from existing community and create gridlocked lifestyles. City leaders are now putting increased emphasis on Urban Infill development - the creative recycling of vacant or underutilized lands within cities and suburbs - and maximizing use of existing public facilities as a key economic development strategy. Their view is that urban in-fill Development offers many valuable lifestyle and economic development benefits. But successful infill expresses not what a community or city leader will settle for but what it really wants. This often causes an obstacle for developer in getting their projects approved. The overall objective for this course is that each student emerges at the end of this course with an excellent understanding of the specific topic, issues and complexities of urban infill development. We will also explore the economic development thrust of urban infill, as well as the political and community dimensions of projects. Throughout this course we will emphasize the practical aspect of urban infill development, including utilizing practitioners in the field for guest appearances to learn and understand from their experiences.

RED 599 Special Topics (2-4, max. 8 units - elective course)
Occasionally new courses are offered on a trial basis in the MRED program. These are preliminarily listed as RED 599 Special Topics classes.