Curriculum

The Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program is a sequence comprised of seven required courses, three electives and a thesis/project/capstone course. The seven required courses cover development law, finance, planning, design, construction, negotiation and property management. On a case-by-case basis, the Program Director may accept a substitute course for a required core course if justified by the student's prior educational background or work experience. No courses from prior or other degrees may be transferred for credit toward the MRED degree.

MRED is not a cohort program with a required sequence of courses. However, RDEV 688A (Development Law, Process and Ethics) is the introductory course and will in most cases be taken in the first semester of attendance.

Many related electives are available in such focused areas as sustainability, adaptive reuse, finance, affordable housing, planning, transportation and economics. In addition, students may take relevant courses at the Smith School of Business, the Clark School of Engineering and the Department of Landscape Architecture.

The location of the MRED program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation means you will have the opportunity to study with professors and students in highly related, but often overlooked parts of the development process—the broader context of planning and politics, design and construction, and property management—as well as standard finance and investment courses.

We believe here at Maryland that this is not only the best the University and our development partners and sponsors have to offer you, but that it is also a superior preparation for entering or advancing in the development industry. Your professors will provide theoretical and academic materials as well as the practical application of theory. Many of your professors will be practitioners active in the real estate arena.

In sum, your degree from Maryland is about preparing you to build for a sustainable future. Development projects you promote and participate in or undertake yourselves will aim for a rich quadruple bottom line—one that is not only economically viable, but also environmentally respectful, socially responsible and, not to be overlooked, aesthetically pleasing.

Program Pedagogy: Collaborative, Comprehensive, Professional Education

We take an integrated, interdisciplinary and balanced approach to real estate development education. This means you take courses that address all aspects of the real estate business. Yes, real estate is a business, and finance is critical to making it work, but all the other principles and processes, and professionals from planning to property managers, are an integral part of successful development. None of those aspects are overlooked in Maryland's Master's degree in Real Estate Development.

You will take at least one course in every phase of development, plus two or more cross-cutting courses, such as development law, and at least one or more "skills" classes, such as negotiations. In addition you will have the opportunity to select several narrowly focused electives in areas that Maryland highlights such as sustainable building, affordable housing, and public and private financing. If you are keen to start your business you can take a course in entrepreneurship (RDEV688P) to learn business plan skills and hear from local developers about the multiple paths to success.

By the time you complete your capstone project you should be well equipped to understand and communicate with the array of professionals who contribute to a successful real estate project—planners, politicians, policy makers, community advocates, financiers, architects, appraisers, market analysts, engineers, contractors, investment bankers and property and asset managers.

Moreover, your professors and courses will provide both a theoretical and practical knowledge base, with site visits, practice exercises and visiting lecturers who are active in all facets of development. Textbooks, journal articles and theses, are balanced with pro formas, policy memoranda and field studies. Each student is expected to become actively engaged in the local chapter of a real estate trade association, to stay up with current business reporting on real estate in the region, the nation and the world, and to participate in the life of the community they seek to shape going forward.