Would it be business? any detailed information on this? thank you very much!
None. You don’t need a degree to be a real estate agent.
I’ve known many successful people who are real estate agents and NONE had a degree in business. Some people I known worked in real estate to support their other career (actors, musicians, dancers), some took a job in real estate because the found their previous job boring (graphic designer, decorator, stay-at-home mom or dad). In fact, years ago my dentist left his private practice and became a real estate agent, as it payed him more money. If your goal is to become a real estate agent, you don’t even need to have a college degree, all you need is hustle and a passing grade on a state licensing test: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionaleducation/10/6-steps-becoming-a-real-estate-agent.asp?performancelayout=true
^^ I agree with gibby… It seems like spending $270,000 to go to one of the top universities in the world so that you can later get a license to sell real estate is just a little bit of overkill…
Well thanks guys, I’d have to change my mind about what jobs I’m gonna do now.
Anyone wanna share what you’re gonna do/what jobs you chose?
While it’s true that you can be a real estate agent without a college degree, the most successful real estate agents I know are well educated, including some with law degrees or undergraduate degrees from Ivy League schools and top LACs.
Cornell has a degree in Hotel Administration which is like a business degree but also has classes in RE law and property management, accounting and other subjects that might be helpful in dealing with commercial real estate.
FWIW: The most successful real estate agent I know got that way because he used to work as a trainer at an exclusive health club in NYC, which had many members who were mega-stars in film, TV, and music (think Emmy’s, Tony’s, Oscar’s and Grammy’s). When he left the health club, he took his roledex of star names with him and now sells multiple-million dollar homes to the rich and famous making a 6% commission on all the deals – which is not too shabby for an Ithaca college theater graduate!
Do you mean real estate agent or real estate developer? In my city we have a local real estate agency that is offering scholarships to people who want to go to the local community college and take a night course in passing the realtor’s licensing exam. On the other hand, one of the biggest real estate developers in my city went to Harvard and studied real estate finance (I think that’s what I read in the newspaper). Big difference though. He gets huge loans, builds huge master-planned communities and has real estate agents sell the houses. He also has apartment complexes all over the U.S.
I doubt that there’s any degree that would be necessary for being a real estate agent (i.e. the technical skills aren’t too complex, and any communication tactics/negotiating tactics are easier learned from a book).
Are you planning on being an agent, or a developer? If you are planning on doing more than being an agent, it might be useful to remember that Donald Trump picked Wharton due to the fact that it had one of the few real estate departments in the country at that time.
You are mistaken, or the paper is mistaken. Harvard DOES NOT offer a degree in real estate finance, real estate, finance, or business Here’s what the offer: http://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k104674&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup184067
@TyedTyper,
Is it possible that this real estate developer of whom you write went to Harvard BUSINESS School?
@gibby is right. Harvard offers no undergraduate degrees in finance, business, or real estate. The closest one gets at the undergraduate level would be economics.
Conversely, Harvard Business School awards MBAs, and although that’s still not quite a degree in “real estate finance,” it’s a lot closer. HBS also offers non-degree, shorter-term programs, including a program in finance.
@notjoe, It is possible. I just remember reading a profile of him in the newspaper a couple of years ago. It was a fluff piece. It may have said that he studied economics with a focus on real estate finance. You have to understand our local newspaper is more of a propaganda machine. They write fluff pieces about how great the local business leaders are. I know he went to Harvard College. He may have gone to Harvard Business School as well.
@gibby You are correct and I thought I had read somewhere that Harvard did not offer a concentration anywhere close to real estate finance but I am not interested in majoring in business so I wasn’t sure nor did I care to look. My point was to try to encourage @Ayitsderek that a career in real estate is possible by attending Harvard, just that (s)he needed to have a bigger vision.