A month ago, I had the opportunity to take my second CCIM course in Raleigh, NC. The course I took was CI 101: Financial Analysis for Commercial Investment Real Estate. This is the initial course for the CCIM designation program which stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member. Although I’m still in the early stages of my CCIM journey, it’s an incredible career investment.
Throughout the week, I was introduced to the CCIM Cash Flow Model. The model enabled me to calculate key financial concepts such as Internal Rate of Return, Net Present Value, Cap Rates, Capital Accumulation, and the Annual Growth Rate of Capital to compare different types of commercial investments. The financials covered in this course are comparable to a high-level college finance class. The course takes real property that exists and uses it as an example for the case studies throughout the week. The features of one of the properties used in my class were as follows:
- Twenty-five-unit apartment complex near downtown.
- All units were two beds, two bath apartments.
- All the units were recently renovated with top-of-the-line improvements.
- The complex was within walking distance of the city’s entertainment and shopping district.
We were given market information of comparable properties and had to solve for variables such as Potential Rental Income, Net Operating Income, Cash Flow Before Taxes, Cash Flow After Taxes, and Sales Proceeds. It was a great learning exercise that taught the basics of commercial real estate investing. At the end of each course there is a 50-question exam in which each student must score 70% or higher.
Fewer than 10% of the commercial real estate industry have earned the CCIM designation and research shows that CCIM designees outperform non-designated professionals. I highly recommend that every commercial real estate professional invests time and money into the CCIM program. I’ve only completed 25% of the course and already see the benefits of pursuing the designation. I’m looking forward to taking CI 104: Investment Analysis for Commercial Investment Real Estate in October 2023. I thank my team at Rich Commercial Realty for being supportive as I took the class and handled client issues during the workday while I was out studying each evening.
