Undergraduate
Certificate
The undergraduate real estate certificate program is designed to give students a thorough, multidisciplinary understanding of real estate. It prepares students for a real estate career by providing a solid foundation in capital markets, developing students’ decision-making skills, and framing real-world challenges in a multidisciplinary context. Additionally, completion of the certificate satisfies the course work requirement necessary to obtain a broker's license in the state of Colorado.
The certificate program consists of a total of 18 credit hours of course work, including an academic internship (download the requirement documentation here). Undergraduate students must be enrolled, full-time business majors at the Leeds School of Business and have completed all of the necessary prerequisites. Business minors who have completed all prerequisites are encouraged to apply for the certificate. Students who successfully complete all the course and internship requirements will be awarded a Real Estate Certificate and transcript designation.
Getting Started
If you are interested in completing the Real Estate Certificate, please fill out the certificate intent form and e-mail it to lisa.chambers@colorado.edu.
Colorado Real Estate Broker License
The CU Real Estate Certificate is not the same as a broker license. Here are the procedures to get a Colorado broker license:
1. Once you complete the certificate program, you will need to submit your transcript (unofficial is fine) to lisa.chambers@colorado.edu.
2. Many students find it helpful to take a crash course before they sit for the broker exam. You should have gained the most knowledge you need for the test in all of your courses at CU-Boulder, but this crash course will help you specifically pass the exam. Many entities offer these types of crash courses. Kaplan and the American Real Estate College are both schools that students have used in the past. A complete list of schools that offer these courses, in addition to pass rates for each school, are available on the State of Colorado Real Estate's website.
3. You must register to take the exam. Contact Promissor at 808.274.0828. A company representative will help you find an exam site and a time that is preferable for you. We recommend you call two weeks prior to your desired exam date.
4. Once you have taken the exam and passed, you are ready to submit your application for your license. The Colorado Division of Real Estate lists the applications to chose from. You want to apply for the Colorado Real Estate Broker License. The directions for submitting this application are available on the Commission's website. You will need to submit an application fee, a fingerprint card, proof of education (your official transcript listing completion of the real estate certificate), your exam score report, and a certificate of license history. All of this information is listed in detail in the license application directions. You need to be employed or sponsored by a broker firm for two years before you can become an independent broker.
Club
The CU Real Estate Club is an undergraduate student organization at the Leeds School of Business. Our membership is made up of students across all four years, and all majors of study throughout CU, who share an interest in real estate. Often we find the majority of our members come directly from the Real Estate Certificate program offered by Leeds, however, the Club is free and open to every major.
The Real Estate Club is dedicated to providing our members with a solid foundation of which to express and share their passion for real estate with other like-minded students. We hope to serve as a platform for students to become more involved with the local real estate community, thereby furthering their interests, growing their knowledge, and enhancing their potential. We provide networking opportunities, educational events, and career development activities.
Key Aspects
- Host a number of speakers on Tuesday evenings throughout the academic year that will allow the members to gain knowledge of the various elements of the real estate industry.
- Visit sites of current real estate developments, completed projects, and construction sites to provide our members with a first-hand look into the real estate world
- Provide service back to the community with an annual Habitat for Humanity volunteer day.
- Develop and maintain a relationship with the real estate companies present in the Boulder community, and, by doing so, gain valuable networking contacts within the field.
- Provide our members with an insight into the industry related education available at CU to help each member tailor their CU education to help best prepare them for their career.
We have had a handful of great speakers including architect David Tryba, developer Michael Boyers, a panel of experts on being a First Time Homebuyer, and residential agent/entrepreneur Matt Kolb among others. Our guest speakers have contributed great insight on project and site analysis, development, and brokerage as well as how to develop one’s career path in real estate. Come to one of our meetings for a real-life experience into the world of real estate.
Calendar for 2012-2013
- Spring: Regular meetings every other Tuesday night 6:30 pm-7:30pm in Koelbel 330
- January 22, 6:15 Pizza, soft drinks; 6:30 Flipping Houses with Mike Jones and Bill Lyons
- February 5, Brownfield Development, Cheryl Hoffman
- February 19, Resort Development, speaker tba
- March 5, Macerich Shopping Centers, Kim Campbell
- March 19, Architect, speaker tba
- April 2, REIT, speaker tba
- April 16, Hard hat tour of the Rec. Center construction with Saunders Construction
- Cooper Jacobs: Co-President, cooper.jacobs@colorado.edu
- Jack Krowl: Co-President, jack.krowl@colorado.edu
- Ryan Buehler, Marketing Coordinator, ryan.buehler@colorado.edu
- Club Advisor: Lisa Chambers, lisa.chambers@colorado.edu
Leadership
Competition
USC International Undergraduate Case Competition
Since 2005, the Marshall School at the University of Southern California has been hosting an international undergraduate student case competition. On a Monday in the third week of April student teams receive the competition case study. Students have three days to analyze the case, summarize their analysis in a written report, and prepare a presentation. Students travel to Los Angeles on Thursday of the competition week. On Friday, students present their analysis to a panel of real estate industry professionals.
The Leeds real estate student team competing in the 2012 competition consisted of (pictured left to right) Nick Schoon, Brett Erb, Matt Riach, Erica Mark, Colleen Gawey and Cody Swift.
The schools competing in this year’s competition included CU-Boulder, USC, Texas, Wisconsin, Wharton, NYU, and Ohio State.
Scholarships
Kenneth M. Good Scholarship
Kenneth M. Good, a successful real estate entrepreneur, created this scholarship to support undergraduate students who share his enthusiasm for the field. This scholarship is awarded to an outstanding real estate student who shows determination and the potential to be a successful entrepreneur in the real estate industry.
Ronald B. Hochmuth Memorial Scholarship
The Colorado Association of Realtors administers the trust fund for this scholarship.
Courses
REAL 3000: Principles of Real Estate Practice
An introduction to real estate as an asset with associated property rights, an industry, profession, and investment. The course covers a broad spectrum of real estate principles and terms including legal concepts, regulation and land use, valuation, financing methods and sources, and investment analysis. This course is an excellent elective for all students and provides the foundation for other real estate courses at Leeds.
REAL 4000: Real Estate Law
The course will cover a broad sampling of laws impacting and governing real property rights and interests, including the possession, use, encumbrance, and conveyance of real property.
REAL 4100: Real Estate Finance and Investments
This course discusses important real estate financing and investment problems. Topics include mortgage instruments, income property analysis, valuation and financing of income properties, risk analysis, disposition and renovation decisions, financing corporate real estate, financing project development, the secondary mortgage market, and real estate investment trusts and portfolio considerations.
REAL 4810: Academic Internship
The course is designed to complement the internship experience of the students. The class will focus on (1) sharing the experiences of the students in their respective internships, (2) exploring career opportunities in the real estate industry, and (3) discussing current issues in the real estate industry.
REAL 4820: Real Estate Development
Provides the student with a sense of how the real estate development process has been handled during past and recent history, and why communities and developments occur the way they do. The focus will be on current real estate development practices, but will include a discussion of significant historical figures and developments. Recent trends in development, such as green building, LEED certification, growth management, brownfields, TOD, environmental issues, sustainability, and others, will be covered.
Asset Management Seminar
This lecture series is offered to undergraduate students enrolled in REAL 4810: Academic Internship. The series takes place over the course of seven Tuesdays in the spring semester.
Certifications
LEED Certification
In partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Chapter, the CU Real Estate Center offers students a unique opportunity to prepare for and take the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Green Associate exam.
We're serious about sustainable real estate development practices. So are our students. Regardless of the role our students take in the broader real estate industry, becoming LEED certified is a significant plus for our graduates and speaks to their commitment to sustainable practices.
ARGUS-DCF® Certification
ARGUS-DCF® is a widely used income property investment/valuation real estate software package. We are proud to offer the ARGUS-DCF® Certification class to our MBAs, undergraduates, and members of the CUREC community. According to ARGUS®, our high pass rates are unprecedented among ARGUS-DCF® Certification classes offered by either ARGUS or other universities.
Prerequisite: Undergraduate students must have completed or are currently be enrolled in REAL 4100: Real Estate Finance and Investments or have obtained instructor permission.