LAW 7015 - Real Estate Development

This course is designed to teach real estate development through practical experience. The course explores the risks inherent in real estate development and the concrete steps required to take a real estate project from the conceptual stage to completion. The course will focus on the various risks and hurdles to successfully putting a real estate development together. Students will take a single site (of their own or one offered by the instructor) and produce several small reports that require research and analysis on: (1) market conditions for the proposed use and site; (2) planning/zoning issues and resolutions; (3) financing, including both equity and debt; and (4) site-related legal issues (such as title and environmental problems). In addition to book and interest research, students will be required to discuss their projects with planning official s in relevant jurisdiction(s) and to speak with financing sources. At the end of the course, these combined reports should allow the student to determine whether a given project is feasible and help with a decision to move forward. This course is entirely project-based and will not have an exam. Students should expect to attend field trips to current projects.