Two-hour live case discussions
Work through real investment decisions with experienced practitioners. Test your reasoning against other perspectives and learn what actually happened.
Learn to think and act like a seasoned developer
Work through case studies with experienced practitioners. Discuss your recommendation with a live cohort, then compare it with the actual outcome.
Register
8 workshops
2 hours
10 people
November 18
Curriculum
Practice the decisions behind buying, developing, financing, and selling commercial real estate. Take one workshop or all eight.
Acquisition
Buy the right deal at the right price.
Uncover costs and risks that could erase your return before you commit.
Know when to negotiate harder and when to withdraw.
Approvals
Commit to a project with a credible path to approval.
Reduce costly surprises and address opposition early.
Keep delays from turning a promising site into an expensive holding cost.
Construction
Protect your profit through construction.
Catch budget and schedule problems early and keep change orders under control.
Make informed decisions when the money left may not cover the work remaining.
Leasing
Turn vacant space into dependable income.
Choose tenants and negotiate terms that protect what you actually collect.
Reduce surprises from concessions, defaults, and expensive turnover.
Asset Management
Keep more of what your property earns.
Invest in improvements that support income and value, and retain good tenants.
Preserve enough cash to handle the next major repair.
Debt
Finance your investment while preserving the flexibility you may need later.
Protect cash flow and understand your personal exposure.
Reduce the risk of a funding shortfall when the loan comes due.
Equity
Bring investors into your deal on terms you can live with.
Protect your share of the upside and preserve the control you need.
Prepare for difficult conversations before the project needs more money.
Exit
Make the years you've invested count when it's time to exit.
Choose when to sell, hold, or refinance based on what you could actually take home.
Reduce the risk of a failed closing or forced sale.
Structure
Inspired by leading business schools, we teach through real stories and cases because understanding why a decision worked or failed helps you apply the lesson to your own deals.
Before class
Spend about 10 minutes reading the case study, then post your responses to the discussion questions.
During class
Discuss the case as a group in the two-hour live workshop and model out different decisions.
After class
Review the handout, ask follow-up questions, and network with other participants in the community.
Instructors
We want you to succeed in real estate. That starts with an honest look at the good, the bad, and the ugly, not a promise of quick riches.
In every workshop, we examine the potential upside alongside the risks and the work involved. You'll learn to question assumptions, understand what can go wrong, and recognize when a deal is worth pursuing or better left alone.
Lilian Chen
Founder and CEO, Proptimal · The Proptech Girl
Lilian founded Proptimal to help commercial real estate teams build financial analysis with AI. She has worked with over 200 real estate companies.
Known as The Proptech Girl, her appearances include New York Tech Week and a Thesis Driven x Bisnow workshop on AI in underwriting and investment workflows. Her writing has appeared in NAIOP Development Magazine. She holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and an Economics degree from UC Berkeley.
Gregory J. Laskody
Founder, HAUTE CRE Advisory and MasterCRE
Greg brings more than 30 years of commercial real estate and capital markets experience, with over 500 transactions representing more than $3 billion in aggregate volume. His work spans valuation, underwriting, debt and equity financing, and investment advisory.
A former adjunct professor of Real Estate Studies at Miami-Dade College, Greg founded MasterCRE to teach investment principles, financial analysis, and Excel modeling. He holds a B.S. in Real Estate and Finance from Florida State University.
Offer
Practice real estate decisions with experienced practitioners, then take home tools you can use in your own deals.
Case studies and decision tools
Keep the case studies, solutions, and decision checklists. Use them to question assumptions, identify missing evidence, and assess risks in your own projects.
A reusable financial model
Take home a financial model template for your own underwriting. Adapt it to a deal and see how your assumptions affect the numbers.
Lifetime access to workshop recordings
Review difficult concepts at your own pace. Return to the discussions when a similar decision comes up in your work.
A participant Slack community
Ask follow-up questions and compare experiences with other participants. Keep learning together between workshops.
Unlimited underwriting for 3 months
Put the lessons into practice with Proptimal. Analyze your own real estate deals with three months of unlimited underwriting.
FAQ
Is this course right for me?
The course is for people who want to make better commercial real estate investment and development decisions through real cases. No active deal or prior real estate or Excel experience is required. Each lesson starts with a glossary and short crash course in the handout to help you catch up.
How do the workshops work?
Read the case study and discussion questions beforehand, then prepare a recommendation. In the two-hour live workshop, you discuss the options and your reasoning with the group before reviewing the actual outcome. Afterward, you receive the recording and a handout with the case solutions and lessons.
Can I apply what I learn to my own deal?
Yes. Use the frameworks and checklists to assess risks in your own projects. Adapt the financial model template and use Proptimal to work on your analysis. Live discussions focus on the workshop cases.
Can I try one workshop before committing to all eight?
Yes. Take the first workshop for $300 and upgrade to the full series afterward, or register for all eight upfront for $2,000. Each workshop centers on its own case and decision.
What is included, and what support will I receive?
You receive case materials, handouts, decision checklists, and a financial model template, plus lifetime recording access for the workshops you register for. Registration also includes unlimited underwriting with Proptimal for 3 months, and a Slack community for Q&A and conversations with other participants.