This half-semester course introduces and surveys a selection of cutting-edge topics in the field of real estate finance and investments. The course follows an informal “seminar” format to the maximum degree possible, with students expected to take considerable initiative. Lectures and discussions led by the instructors will be supplemented by several guest speakers from the real estate investment industry, who will present perspectives on current trends and important developments in the industry.

This is the reading material for the closing process in California Real Estate. It will be followed by assignments at a later date. It lays out the steps that a realtor needs to make sure take place to ensure a smooth close.

This course will examine literature and practice regarding community-owned enterprise as an alternative means of increasing community participation and development. The use of cooperatives, credit unions, land trusts, and limited stock ownership enterprises for increasing community participation and empowerment will be examined.

In this activity, students will read an article about factors to consider when renting a vacation property. Then, they will compare lists with a partner or in a small group to come to a consensus on the five most important factors. Students will work together to find a vacation rental in a francophone area that incorporates their considerations and will present their choice to the class. As a possible extension on this activity, students can choose an accommodation and write a mock review of the accommodation.

1.464 examines the long term effects of information technology on business strategy in the real estate and construction industry. Considerations include: supply chain, allocation of risk, impact on contract obligations and security, trends toward consolidation, and the convergence of information transparency and personal effectiveness. Resources are drawn from the world of dot.com entrepreneurship and “old economy” responses.

This course examines why we plan for economic development, how government is funded in the US, what strategies are commonly used to attract and retain development, and how effective they are at accomplishing goals. We look at the tools and techniques of development through a variety of lenses, including those of effectiveness, equity, sustainability, and impacts on other aspects of public finance.

Financial institutions are a pillar of civilized society, supporting people in their productive ventures and managing the economic risks they take on. The workings of these institutions are important to comprehend if we are to predict their actions today and their evolution in the coming information age. The course strives to offer understanding of the theory of finance and its relation to the history, strengths and imperfections of such institutions as banking, insurance, securities, futures, and other derivatives markets, and the future of these institutions over the next century.

Introduction to the Law of Property, Estate Planning and Insurance is an up-to-date textbook that covers legal issues that students must understand relating to real estate (an especially important business asset), as well as estate planning and insurance. The text is organized to permit instructors to tailor the materials to their particular approach. The authors take special care to engage students by relating law to everyday events with their clear, concise and readable style.

The course draws on faculty members from the Center for Real Estate, the City Design and Development Group (Department of Urban Studies and Planning), and the Media Lab to explore extraordinary projects that challenge conventional approaches to real estate development, urban design, and advanced digital technology.

This book, Project Evaluation: Essays and Case Studies, is based primarily upon materials prepared between 1997 and 2010 by Carl D. Martland for 1.011 Project Evaluation, a required course within MIT’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering that he designed, developed, and taught for many years. It is structured to be of interest to anyone focused on infrastructure systems, especially engineers, planners, and managers who design, build and operate such systems. The book may also be of interest to students in planning or engineering who are interested in transportation, water resources, energy, city planning, or real estate development.
Project Evaluation: Essays and Case Studies is published in two stand-alone volumes. Volume I provides an overview of project evaluation as a multi-dimensional process aimed at creating projects that meet the needs of society. Volume II examines the equivalence relationships that can be used to compare cash flows or economic costs and benefits over the life of a project.

This course examines the theories and policy debates over who can own real property, how to communicate and enforce property rights, and the range of liberties that they confer. It explores alternative economic, political, and sociological perspectives of property rights and their policy and planning implications.

This half-semester course introduces and surveys the major public capital market real estate vehicles, REITs and MBS (with primary emphasis on CMBS). Some background is also included in basic modern portfolio theory and equilibrium asset pricing. This course is primarily designed to provide MSRED students with a basic introduction to the public capital market sources of financial capital for real estate, and how those markets value such capital investments.

This course, offered by the MIT Center for Real Estate, focuses on developing an understanding of the macroeconomic factors that shape and influence markets for real property. We will develop the theory of land markets and locational choice. The material covered includes studies of changing economic activities, demographic trends, transportation and local government behavior as they affect real estate.

This course is an introduction to the most fundamental concepts, principles, analytical methods and tools useful for making investment and finance decisions regarding commercial real estate assets. As the first of a two-course sequence, this course will focus on the basic building blocks and the “micro” level, which pertains to individual properties and deals.

This course provides an overview of key concepts in strategic management in the construction, real estate, and architecture industries. Topics include supply chain analysis, market segmentation, vertical integration, competitive advantage, and industry transformation. This course is of interest to students seeking more understanding of the business dynamics of real estate and construction; seeking to provide value in firms which they may join; or seeking to build a foundation for their own entrepreneurial pursuits.

Sustainable Property Management is a 150-page, peer-reviewed open textbook intended for students majoring in property management and real estate at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can be incorporated into an existing property management operations course or used for a stand-alone course focused on sustainable property management. Although sustainability, as used in the real estate context, is about preserving the environment, it is about more than that. In sustainable property management, sustainability encompasses three spheres—environmental, social, and economic. Sustainable property management is about reconciling these three spheres throughout the operations and maintenance phases of the building lifecycle in such a way that a balance is achieved between economic development and the protection of environmental and social resources.

This textbook explains how ecologically sustainable concepts may be implemented throughout the property management operation functions while also considering the other spheres of sustainability. It also incorporates the theme of sustainable building practices as a human science as well as a building science by highlighting motivations and impacts to various stakeholders. The author draws on industry examples to illustrate these concepts and provides many experiential activities through which students can apply these concepts.

Are you reviewing or adopting this book for a course?
Please help us understand your use by filling out this form https://bit.ly/interest_sustainable_property_management.

How to Access the Book
The main landing page for this book is https://doi.org/10.21061/sustainable_property_management. The open textbook is freely available online in multiple formats, including PDF, ePub, and Pressbooks https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/sustainablepropertymanagement.
A softcover print version is available for order here.

ISBN
ISBN PDF 978-1-957213-38-5
ISBN Pressbooks 978-1-957213-40-8
ISBN ePub 978-1-957213-39-2
ISBN Print (color) 978-1-957213-37-8 https://www.amazon.com/dp/195721337X.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sustainable Property Management
Chapter 2: The Three Spheres of Sustainable Property Management
Chapter 3: Stakeholder Motivations for Sustainable Property Management Practices
Chapter 4: Sustainable Building Maintenance and Repair Practices
Chapter 5: The Intersection of Sustainable Property Management and Risk Management
Chapter 6: Integrating Sustainable Practices into Marketing and Leasing
Chapter 7: Financial Evaluation of Sustainable Building Initiatives
Chapter 8: Human Health Considerations

Find, Adapt, and Share Resources
Customizable class slides for this book are available at http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113422.

Instructors are encouraged to share their relevant, original, and openly-licensed teaching resources via the Instructor Resource Portal in OER Commons.

About the Author
Erin A. Hopkins, PhD, serves as an Associate Professor of Property Management within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, where she teaches courses in property management operations and sustainability in the built environment. She has been awarded Virginia Tech’s Teacher of the Week and has received recognition in Virginia Tech’s “Thank a Teacher” program multiple times. She has twenty-three published journal articles and has served as an associate editor for the textbook Practical Apartment Management (7th ed.), Journal of Green Building, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. She also serves on the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) Foundation’s Board of Directors and IREM’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Advisory Council.

Suggested Citation: Hopkins, Erin A. (2023). Sustainable Property Management. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.21061/sustainable_property_management. Licensed with CC BY NC-SA 4.0.

Errata and Error Reporting
Errata
Report an Error

Accessibility
Virginia Tech Publishing is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Pressbooks (HTML) and ePub versions of this text are tagged structurally and include alternative text, which allows for machine readability.

Cover Art: Danist Soh via https://unsplash.com/photos/XufAxQTncGY
Illustration and Cover Design: Kindred Grey

The course provides a systematic framework to understand the most challenging issues in sustainability in the real estate industry. It examines economic mechanisms, technological advances, business models, building design, and investment and financing strategies available for the different market players to promote sustainability in the building sector.
Prof. Siqi Zheng is the faculty director of the MIT Center for Real Estate and founder and director of the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab. She specializes in urban and environmental economics, with a special focus on sustainable cities and real estate.
Zhengzhen Tan is a lecturer and researcher with MIT Center for Real Estate and MIT Asia Real Estate Initiative, specializing in real estate sustainability, healthy buildings, and digital technology innovation.
Prof. Juan Palacios is a visiting professor from Maastricht University whose research focuses on environmental economics, sustainable real estate, and health economics.

This course is an introduction to the analytical tools that support design and decision-making in real estate and infrastructure development. There is a particular focus on identifying and valuing sources of flexibility using “real options”, Monte-Carlo simulation, and other techniques from the field of engineering systems. This course integrates economic and engineering perspectives, and is suitable for students with various backgrounds. It serves to provide useful preparation for thesis work in the area. The course applies the approach to the design and phasing of a mega infrastructure real estate project.
Note
This MIT OpenCourseWare site is based, in part, on materials on Design for Real Estate and Infrastructure Development from Professor de Neufville’s and Professor Geltner’s Web site.