East West Commercial Real Estate

Sharon:

In Maryland it’s the same exam. I believe it’s the same in most states.
That said, you do need additional training, once you’re licensed, if you want to get into commercial. It’s very different from residential.

Philly Broker:

Exams are the same.

To start, get familiar with letters of intent, type of leases (triple net, gross, etc.), learn commercial real estate math (know what a cap rate is and how to calculate it, and conversely how to derive property value from it….also, depending on the type of commercial business you’re involved in you may need to understand more complex math equations like cash-on-cash return, internal rate of return, net present value among other calculations.

Also, pick an area of focus – don’t try to be all things to all people – focus on one speciality like office, or pick retail, or perhaps industrial – but not all three.

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Additional Comments:

I disagree with godged comments “For those looking for a commercial niche, they take CCIM courses and obtain that designation.”

You don’t find your niche based on taking CCIM courses and obtaining the designation – these are unrelated. Although the CCIM designation is a great one to have, you need to get some experience under your belt – not only do I say so, but the CCIM Institute says so as well – they have a volume requirement in order to obtain the designation –

http://www.ccim.com

1. Ten qualifying activities that total $10 million or more; or

2. $40 million in volume regardless of the number of activities; or

3. Thirty qualifying activities regardless of the volume

Your best bet is to research different commercial brokerages and their areas of specialty – and line up “informational interviews” – and interview them instead of the other way around – see if you can ride along with a broker for a few hours – offer to buy him lunch – find out what it’s really like to be an office broker, for example.