In last week’s post I mentioned that one of the many ways to create value in real estate is through good design. However, I didn’t really go into what makes good design. Although design is highly subjective, there are core principles that are key to good design.
Back in the 1980’s, German industrial designer Dieter Rams laid out his 10 key principles to good design. His simple yet insightful principles are timeless and applicable to many facets of real estate:
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In real estate it’s hard to not get caught up in the idea that it’s merely who you know and your ability to put together deals that dictates your success. Many prominent real estate investors have great access to capital and an innate ability to structure deals. They often win through buying and selling assets at the right time in the cycle, taking advantage of capital markets, and putting good teams in place.
While this is partly a reality of the business, what I find great about real estate is that generally speaking buildings are all the same, it’s the experience we create within buildings that’s different, and that’s where attributable value is.
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Over the past few years there has been a shift in the way people approach education. Abundant education is now easy to access and offers motivated individuals a chance to learn. Unfortunately, most of the free education doesn’t get the exposure it deserves. A prime example is the 50-part interview series that Bruce Kirsch of REFM did with Peter Linneman, one of the top minds in real estate.
The short interviews add color to the concepts taught in Peter Linneman’s popular text, corrects common misconceptions, and overall brings the business to life for the reader in a way that no other real estate finance text does.
I took the time and listened to all 50 videos and wrote my top takeaways from each. Due to the sheer quantity of content, I decided to break it into three parts.
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A big part of any real estate professional’s job is to stay abreast of the market. While I incessantly read industry news, there’s no better way to stay atop industry trends than attending conferences and listening to industry leaders. Here are notes from two of the top real estate conferences that took place this past week at the Plaza Hotel.
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I talk to a lot of undergrads who say they want to get into real estate investment banking, but have no idea what it consists of. I tracked down a fellow NYU Schack grad working in real estate investment banking and asked him to share some insight into his day-to-day.
Enter Chase:
Joe once wrote that a real estate career is not linear and I couldn’t agree more.
Why I got into Real Estate
While pursuing my undergraduate degree in banking and finance, I took a real estate class simply because it happened to fit my schedule. I’ve been hooked ever since. Unlike most things in finance, I found it to be tangible, essential and enduring. I knew I liked real estate and finance, but I didn’t understand the possible career trajectories and specializations of real estate (where was this blog when I was in college) so I jumped right in.
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