FIN4571 Real Estate Finance and Advanced Modeling

4 Advanced Management Credits

This course will address the practical and theoretical issues involved in estimating cash flows and values of a wide variety real property, financial interests, investment interests and deal structures using discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques and sensitivity analyses. Students will solve real estate cash flow and DCF problems using models for property, portfolio, debt and equity interests for a variety of commercial real estate property types. Students will learn and apply the detailed modeling applications necessary to estimate both cash flows and values in the world of real estate finance and capital markets. Students will use and learn both Excel and industry standard ARGUS software applications in the process of modeling lease by lease cash flows at the property level, portfolio cash flow consolidations, related debt structures, including first mortgage and mezzanine debt, and equity waterfall structures. ARGUS is a widely accepted unique and complex modeling software that is very frequently required by employers in real estate finance. This course includes explanations of the theoretical issues and concepts involved in these practical applications. This course is intended for students who have an interest in real estate or who desire to expand their knowledge of finance to include real estate.

Prerequisites: SME2021

FIN7527 Real Estate Financial Modeling
3 Elective CreditsThis course will address the practical and theoretical issues involved in estimating cash flows and values of a wide variety real property, financial interests, investment interests and deal structures using discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques and sensitivity analyses. Students will solve real estate cash flow and DCF problems using models for property, portfolio, debt and equity interests for a variety of commercial real estate property types. Students will detailed modeling applications necessary to estimate both cash flows and values in the world of real estate finance and capital markets. Students will use and learn both Excel and industry standard software applications in the process of modelling lease by lease cash flows at the property level, portfolio cash flow consolidations, related debt structures, including first mortgage and mezzanine debt, and equity waterfall structures. This course includes explanation of the theoretical issues and concepts involved in these practical applications. This course is intended for students who have an interest in real estate or who desire to expand their knowledge of finance to include real estate.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800 or students enrolled in MSF

FIN3555 Real Estate Investment
4 General Elective CreditsThis course is designed for students interested in learning to evaluate real estate investment opportunities. The focus is on commercial property, not single-family homes, and on U.S. real estate. Using readings and case studies, students examine real estate as an asset class and explore its similarities and differences from other investment types. The foundation for this course involves understanding the industry terminology, legal rights and restrictions, and basic techniques for financial projections and analysis.

Expanding from this base, students explore the use of debt and the implications of taxes on real estate investment returns.

Prerequisites: SME2021

FIN7565 Real Estate Investments
(Formerly Real Estate Investment Fundamentals)
3 Elective Credits

This course provides in depth coverage of real estate investing and investment decision making for income producing properties. Topics include valuation, financing, capital markets, development and operations of income-producing real property and issues surrounding the ownership, financing and regulation of real estate. Through readings, lectures and case studies, we will explore how investors identify projects, determine value, design marketing strategies, and obtain financing in the debt and equity markets. This course will include an introduction to the value creation process of real estate development. The course will cover how investors evaluate and finance development projects. Topics include the unique debt and equity financing considerations for both income producing rental properties and for sale condominium projects. The course will also cover Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT's) as an investment vehicle.

The course will use lecture materials, case studies and an example property to illustrate key real estate investment concepts for both investing in existing properties and for developing properties.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800

FIN7566 Real Estate Transactions
3 Elective CreditsThis course will examine the fundamentals of commercial real estate transactions from a legal and managerial perspective. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the major laws and regulations which impact business strategy, allocation of risk, and ultimately deal structures in real estate transactions. Through course readings, assignments, and analysis of industry examples, students will learn how the business strategy components of a term sheet are integrated into the provisions of a transaction's legal documentation. Course topics will include the following: acquisition and disposition, real estate finance, management, development, leasing, tax considerations, distressed property, including loan workouts and commercial foreclosures, and recent legal developments. The course is designed to introduce students to commercial real estate and appeal to real estate entrepreneurs and students interested in careers in the real estate industry.

Prerequisites: None

FIN3512 Real Estate Transactions and Law

4 General Elective CreditsReal-estate is a transaction-based business. To successfully execute any business strategy in real estate, it is essential to understand the relevant legal structures and transaction documentation. This introductory and practical course will provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of commercial real estate transactions from a legal and managerial perspective. The course is designed to familiarize students with the various "life stages" of commercial real estate transactions: negotiating the term sheet, conducting "due diligence" property investigations, structuring ownership interests, financing the project, closing and acquiring title, developing the property, managing and leasing the project, and ultimately, selling the asset or ownership interests. By integrating business strategy and legal structure throughout the course, students will explore how legal considerations impact decision-making in valuing real estate assets, selecting effective ownership structure and control, managing financial risk, allocating financial returns, and developing exit strategies for real estate investments.

Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000

SEN1301 Reel VS. Real: How Fictional Media Influences Reality(Senior Instructor: Celeste Campbell) This course will analyze movies, TV shows, and book excerpts that are fictional but marketed as _based on a true story. We will determine the facts behind each story and examine how our expectation that the media is based in reality affects our perceptions. We will explore the growth of this genre over the past 50 years, focusing on themes such as crime, politics, and romance; potential texts include Argo, Pocahontas, Law & Order, and Pride and Prejudice. This is a discussion-based class supplemented with short readings, articles, and viewings.

Course Schedule: Fridays: January 31, February 7, February 14, February 21, February 28 and March 7 (Showcase of all Senior-Led Seminars)

QTM 7515: Reinforcement Learning and Sequential Decision Making in Practice

3 credits

This course is a practical hands-on introduction to analytical models for sequential decision­ making, which involves making a series of decisions over time with the goal of improving metrics of interest. Reinforcement Learning (RL) - a field of Artificial Intelligence (Al) that brought us Google DeepMind's AlphaGo and self-driving cars - is a focal area of the course. You will learn about classical RL concepts and techniques, such as bandit problems, Markov Decision Processes, dynamic programming, Monte Carlo methods, and temporal difference learning. However, the main overall objective of the course is to illustrate the interaction and use of numerous analytical techniques necessary to solve actual business problems from diverse areas like marketing, inventory management, supply chain management, healthcare operations, manufacturing, financial services, and humanitarian logistics. The course is set up as a guided journey through the lifecycle of several projects that the instructor has completed with actual organizations, increasing in complexity as the semester progresses. The open-source programming language Python and possibly other software tools will be utilized as needed during the course.

Note: This course is self­ contained. However, you will get more out of the course if you take it after taking at least one other modeling course at Babson (e.g., QTM7800, QTM7571/QTM6300, QTM9510, ECN7520/ECN6300/ECN63100). You do not need to have programming experience before taking the course.

(QTM 7800 for MBA students) or (QTM 6300 for MSBA students) Or (MSF Students)

WRT2000 Research Writing
4 Foundation Liberal Arts redits

This course prompts students to put their theory of writing into practice through writing and composing in research-based genres for audiences in academic discourse communities. Students learn to recognize and adhere to the discursive and procedural conventions of particular communities of scholarly practice, and they examine and participate in modes of scholarly inquiry while learning about and engaging in best practices for finding, evaluating, and incorporating sources. Students produce scholarly arguments in essay form while exploring the roles that other textual forms can and do play in scholarship, and they continually reflect on how this work informs their theory and understanding of writing more generally.

Prerequisites: WRT1001

FIN3511 Residential Real Estate
4 General Elective CreditsThis course is designed to introduce students to the residential real estate housing market in the U.S. and equip them with the knowledge to efficiently and effectively navigate that marketplace. Through a practical application of the course topics and examination of current industry examples, we will explore the process of buying, selling, financing and leasing residential real estate, with a focus on single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes, duplexes, triplexes and multi-family apartments of four units or less. We will examine the major issues and considerations that impact the valuation, financing, acquisition, disposition, and leasing of residential real estate.

Prerequisites: FME1001