All Forum Posts by: James Park

@Chris Parker,

Looking back I think my undergrad course work in finance and accounting has been very useful for me as broker/owner, investor, and dealing with my clients. I think an undergraduate degree with a concentration in finance is a good choice whether you pursue a career investing in real estate or wall street. 

If you don't have the funds or the time to get a 4 year degree , I would highly recommend taking the CCIM curriculum or atleast CI 101 Financial Analysis even though you don't sit for the 6 hour exam. You will learn how create a discount cash flow analysis, calculate NPV, IRR, Operating Expense ratio, Profitability Index etc. CCIM designation is considered to be the MBA equivalent among commercial real estate professionals. Most real estate designations I consider to be mickey mouse letters you put on your business card. however the CCIM designation is one RE designation I have high regards for.

CCIM 4 core classes

Financial Analysis – CI 101
Market Analysis – CI 102
User Decision Analysis – CI 103
Investment Analysis – CI 104

Can someone recommend a high quality color printer for high end brochures and real estate marketing materials? Looking for printing high quality image 16 x 11 brochures folded in half 8 x 11.

Thanks.

There are times when the markets are irrational where 1 + 1 does not equal two. Markets can be irrational in the short term, but eventually comes back to rational levels in the long term. 

At the bottom of the stock market crash in March 2009 where the DOW reached levels below 7000, the Dollar index soared to 89. Today the DOW has reached above 18k and the Dollar index just broke above 90. Something in the air is just not right. When something does not feel right, and fundamentals are out the window, I stay far away.  

Anybody here own retail strip centers or industrial / office space divided into 5 units as investment properties in A / B locations? What does your cash flow and tenant managment look like compared to single family home investments?

I have my broker license in both california and georgia. in state of Georgia, I would say the biggest con is the 36 ce hours of actual timed classroom time to maintain your license in the state of Georgia. I already had 24 ce class room hours in GA and was hoping to get the remaining 12 ce credits waived from my california 45 ce hours and GREC turned down my request. 

So in state of Georgia is seems that they want real timed 36 class room hours while in other states you maybe able to whiz through 45 hours in 2 hours online like J Hindrichs mentioned. This is only con I see.

Georgia will also start to require two real estate law classes as part of the 36 hours. 

Cory, I think BP member @Mark Ferguson is an REO listing agent and he may be a good person to speak to.

Thanks for your response @Jedd Brauwarth. What is the property tax like in Des Moines, IA?  Yes, Des Moines, IA is the cheapest real estate on the list so I can believe that you find 2% rule over there.