COURSE NUMBER: MBA 284-1

This course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program

COURSE TITLE: Real Estate Investment Strategy

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Robert H. Edelstein

E-MAIL ADDRESS: edelstei@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: bspace

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

PREREQUISITE(S): 280 and 282 or 283; or permission of the instructor

CLASS FORMAT: Each class will focus on a specific case study. Students are expected to be engaged in class discussion, including role playing, negotiation, etc.

REQUIRED READINGS: Readings for the course will be a series of 15 cases. The readings for each case will be provided at least two weeks before the scheduled class discussion. The case materials will be available on the course web site when it is possible to do so.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Students will be expected to develop a solution strategy for each case and to be prepared to respond to questions, role-play, and/or lead the case discussion. Seven written case analyses are also required. (The best six grades from the case write-ups are used to determine the “cases” component of your final grade.) Students may select the cases they wish to use for their write-ups according to their interests. Grades will be based on class participation (50%) and the case write-up grades (50%).

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: This course is designed to be a capstone course for students who have completed prerequisite real estate courses. The course is based on cases and will focus on developing strategic decision-making skills in real estate management. Class time will be used to present and critique management strategies that students develop for each case. The cases used in this course focus on recent real estate management problems in real estate development and acquisition, real estate capital markets, corporate real estate, real estate repositioning and marketing, the entitlement process and project management. For most cases, a senior decision-maker involved in the actual project will lead the case discussion.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Robert Edelstein joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley in 1985 after being a Professor of Finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and is active in the fields of real estate economics, finance, and property taxation; energy and environmental economics; public finance; and urban financial problems. He has been published widely in prestigious economics and business journals on topics related to commercial and residential financial analysis and real estate markets. He has testified before the United States Congress on many real estate finance issues. He has been President and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. He is past President and a member of the Board of the Asian Real Estate Society. He has been a member of several prestigious Corporate Boards. Dr. Edelstein received an A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.