Master of Real Estate Program Curriculum

The Real Estate program may be completed in 38 semester hours; however, a particular student’s prior coursework and career aspirations may require a longer program. The typical program may be 40 semester hours or more. A thesis is not required.

Texas A&M University is a participating university in the Appraisal Institute’s Master’s Degree Program. For information about the Appraisal Institute and the benefits of this program to Real Estate program graduates, you may consult their website.

The Appraiser Qualifications Board of the Appraisal Foundation has approved our master in real estate program as part of its graduate degree review program. This program benefits both state appraiser regulatory agencies in their review of an applicant’s qualifications as well as graduate degree seekers in obtaining a real property appraiser credential. Visit the Appraisal Foundation site for more information.

Typical course sequence

*- Elective

Common Body of Knowledge/prerequisites

Students without previous coursework in business administration must complete the following prerequisite courses at Texas A&M or their equivalent at another university:

• ACCT 640 - Accounting Concepts and Procedures I, Credits: 3 - Accounting concepts and relationships essential to administrative decisions; use of accounting statements and reports as policy making and policy execution tools. (or ACCT 209-Survey of Accounting Principles or ACCT 229-Introductory Accounting)
• ECON 202 - Principles of Economics (Micro Economics), Credits: 3 - Elementary principles of economics; the economic problem and the price system; theory of demand, theory of production and the firm, theory of supply; the interaction of demand and supply.
• FINC 635 - Financial Management for Non-Business, Credits: 3 - External and internal factors affecting financial decision-making in the firm; fundamental concepts of accounting and managerial economics. (or FINC 309-Survey of Finance Principles or FINC 341-Business Finance)
• STAT 651 - Statistics in Research I, Credits: 3 - Non-calculus exposition of the concepts, methods, and usage of statistical data analysis; T-tests, analysis of variance, and linear regression. (or STAT 302 or 303-Statistical Methods or INFO 303-Statistical Methods)

Core courses

Students who have completed the prerequisite courses (or their equivalent) will normally complete the following core courses:

• AGEC 603 - Land Economics, Credits: 3 - Economic, financial, legal, and related concepts and tools for decision making in land management, real estate development, and appraisal of land and attendant resources; public and private property rights and current land and resource management issues; real estate valuation methods and use of electronic information systems.
• FINC 670 - Real Property Analysis, Credits: 3 - Commercial real estate decision-making; real economic factors and financial tools used to analyze proposed real estate investments, new property developments, and the re-development of existing properties.
• FINC 672 - Real Property Finance, Credits: 3 - Primary and secondary mortgage markets; mortgage markets' institutional organization, alternative mortgage instruments, creative financing techniques, loan underwriting factors, and risk hedging strategies.
• FINC 673 - Real Property Valuation I. Credits: 3 - Procedures used to estimate the market value of real property; market analysis and valuation techniques most appropriate for appraising income-producing properties; demonstration appraisal report.
• FINC 674 - Real Property Valuation II, Credits: 3 - Continuation of Finance 673-Real Property Valuation I; opportunity to develop advanced competencies in real property valuation and analysis involving more complex assignments and properties; draws upon previous coursework including real property valuation, market analysis, real estate investment analysis, and real property finance; most of the course devoted to case studies.
• FINC 675 - Financing Real Estate Investments, Credits: 3 - Exploration of the real estate capital markets and issues affecting the financing of institutional real estate. Topics covered include impact of securitization, public versus private capital sources, cost of capital, asset allocation, impact of technology, fiduciary responsibilities, product analysis, and business strategies.
• FINC 676 - Commercial Real Estate Law, Credits: 3 - Commercial real estate law including legal ownership interests in oil and gas law, real estate sales contact, financing, instruments and closings, commercial leases, and real estate regulations and taxation.
• FINC 677 - Real Estate Development Analysis, Credits: 3 - Financial aspects of real estate development; project investment characteristics and merits; special attention paid to the developer’s role in coordinating the work of the various specialists involved in the development process, the need for the developer to have accurate marketplace information, the omni-present role of the public sector as a partner in any development project, the applicability of the discounted cash flow analytical tool in the developer’s decision-making process, and several risk management strategies available to the developer.
• FINC 684 - Professional Internship, Credits: 3 - A directed internship in an organization to provide students with on-the-job training with professionals in organizational settings appropriate to the student's professional objectives. 
• FINC 685 - Directed Studies, Credits: 2 - Directed study of selected problems using ARGUS; weekly real estate speaker series.
• GEOG 662 - Real Property GIS Applications, Credits: 3 - Concepts and tools of geographic information systems (GISs); lecture emphasizes basic concepts of design, planning, and implementation of GISs as they relate to commercial real estate; laboratory component provides hands-on experience with GIS software.

Elective courses

In addition to core courses, students will normally complete two elective courses. Suggested electives include the following courses:

• COSC 601 - Construction Practices, Credits: 3 - Construction materials and processes from inception to completion; alternative construction delivery processes; code standards and safety aspects related to buildings; various contemporary/innovative building systems.
• FINC 629 - Financial Management I, Credits: 3 - Analysis of finance function, credit and equity markets, financing and dividend decisions; mechanics of financial analysis.
• FINC 630 - Financial Management II, Credits: 3 - Basic concepts of finance applied to solution of business problems using case studies; financial analysis skills further developed and refined; investment and financing decisions analyzed. 
• FINC 632 - Investment Management, Credits: 3 - Introductory course in investments; nature and functioning of securities markets; various investment media and tools for analysis of these media; analysis of debt and equity securities. Alternative trading strategies evaluated.
• FINC 642 - Analysis of Money and Capital Markets, Credits: 3 - U.S. money and capital markets; changes in the supply of and demand for money and capital as they influence the policies of financial intermediaries, fiscal and monetary authorities, and non-financial firms. Interest rates; factors affecting their level and structure; flow of funds in the U.S. economy.
• LDEV 661 - Development and the Environment, Credits: 3 - Land development in the context of environment sustainability, human well being, and business profitability to foster a restorative economy; environmental easement and site analysis; state, federal, and international regulatory issues; and human ecology and the future of land development.
• LDEV 664 - Market Analysis for Development, Credits: 3 - Techniques and data sources for market analysis for development; analysis for housing development; trade area analysis and market analysis for retail development; analysis for office, industrial parks and for specialized development.
• LDEV 667 - Design and Development Economy, Credits: 3 - Interface between the physical and financial dimensions in the design and development process to achieve building and project economics; creating a physical product and a financial venture that responds to social and environmental concerns and to market economy and feasibility analysis.
• MGMT 639 - Negotiations, Credits: 3 - Understanding prescriptive and descriptive negotiation theory as it applies to dyadic and multi-party negotiations, to buyer-seller transactions, dispute resolution, development of negotiation strategy, and management of integrative and distributive aspects of the negotiation process.
• PLAN 640 - Law and Legislation Related to Planning, Credits: 3 - Legislative process and planning legislation; enabling legislation and legal tools of planner: zoning, subdivision ordinances, eminent domain, extraterritorial jurisdiction, and other related planning instruments.