Question about Argus
My university is offering a 2 day course from 9 AM to 4PM to learn Argus. It's $400 but they said if we pass the certification test on the first try they will refund the $400. I was wondering if it is possible to learn enough about ARGUS in 2 days to pass the exam? It's a lot of money and not sure if I should do this or not.
[{"id": "fzgblfq", "text": "Not sure the set up of your university via Argus, but Argus itself allows you something like 90 days to complete the test after getting the software that comes with the textbook package. After that period, the Argus software won\u2019t work and you have to pay the monthly fee or whatever it is. I can almost guarantee you that you won\u2019t know enough to pass the course in 2 days.", "replies": [{"id": "fzgwq83", "text": "The course is not graded, it\u2019s like a little 2 day boot camp that they will teach Argus and then we have to take the certification test", "replies": [{"id": "fzgy73v", "text": "I passed the Argus exam today. I had no prior experience in Argus but know the real estate industry/terms well. There is no way a two day class is enough to pass. If you get access to the book and exam, and you don't have to take the exam immediately after the class, this is a no brainer to take. $400 is cheap. Take the class, take a few days to go over the book, then take the exam. If you can do the example case studies, you'll be fine on section 2. The m/c is somewhat tough and would be almost impossible to learn enough in a two days class.", "replies": [{"id": "fzj23wz", "text": "Hey group, I am doing the 14 case studies from RedShelf. I am stuck on Lava Rock Galleries #5 case study and am wondering if anyone can help me with the recoveries.  I can't get the CAM recovery for the in-line tenants to pull through after total anchor tenant contribution even though I have it set to expense adjust after Anchor tenant.  Therefore CAM and management recoveries are off.  Anyone willing to send me their Argus file or explain it to me?  I would be very grateful!", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzgcc7e", "text": "Definitely, 2 days is plenty of time to pass the cert.  I did the 2 day course and it was very helpful. However, if you fail and do not have access to Argus and are not regularly using it, you may forget a lot of the material. But saying you took the 2 day class could look good on a resume/interview", "replies": [{"id": "fzgwmhb", "text": "To be clear they are going to teach for 2 days, it just seems like if you\u2019ve never used ARGUS how is 2 days enough to pass the test. Idk if I should take it", "replies": [{"id": "fzgwv1e", "text": "It\u2019s 16 hours of classroom time. They give you a book and at the end of each chapter you have a quiz that is based on the chapter and modeling. It really has nothing to do with real estate but the software itself. Pay attention and take notes and you will be fine", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzgja4g", "text": "How much do you already know about commercial real estate?  And lease structure?   Like others have said, you should be able to pass it if you pay attention. Knowing about commercial real estate and leases will help a lot too.", "replies": [{"id": "fzgxu6y", "text": "I know a little from some classes I\u2019ve taken like we did modeling with pro formas on excel and stuff", "replies": [{"id": "fzh5d0c", "text": "If you can get a hold of peter linneman\u2019s real estate finance and investments: risks and opportunities, you\u2019ll get a good leg up on the Argus test and the rest of your career.", "replies": [{"id": "fzhrsie", "text": "This book is the gold standard of real estate finance. Definitely buy this book if this stuff interests you. \n\nAlso, just to give you a reality check, the ARGUS cert and ARGUS class is a resume builder at best. While I've heard some major players praise new hire for taking the initiative with pre-corporate learning, it doesn't mean you can *use* the program in the real world except in the most basic application. \n\nOur finance team only hires sharp finance degrees and then had them grind out numbers about 60+ hours a week for 2.5 years to be considered proficient and 4 years to be a master. These guys work on a diverse set of property types with $500 million high rise office buildings being the upper echelon of valuation they perform within the program. We're talking about potentially 150+ leases with different economics and characteristics for one building. So scale accordingly if your interest is only in a smaller range of business. \n\nI took a semester long course in Argus at UCLA and then my company gave me a test license to play around in (I'm not in the finance team). It's certainly useful to know the basics. It helped me build my own model in excel for lease valuations.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzgr5jy", "text": "Can I take the class? lol", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzgyqmz", "text": "If you need to abstract commercial leases of a cash flow deal it is good, if it's a) new development, and b) not office/retail (ie. Multifamily, condos, hotel, etc.)- it was used to be challenging.  This was my experience several years ago - just could not substitute for excel proforma modeling.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzia3g6", "text": "Do it. See if you can get the full Argus manual and test prep document in advance", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fzjfwge", "text": "Don't waste your own money. If you find a job in CRE as an analyst fresh out of school, they'll pay to send you to the training themselves, most likely do some preliminary training with you in-house. As for the certification, it means virtually nothing if you don't already know the basics of CRE/Investment Sales (or appraising, I guess... those guys typically use the valuation component of AE which to us in Capital Markets, is virtually worthless). Having the AE certification might give you some brownie points but it won't get you a job. I work on a capital markets team for Cushman &amp; Wakefield and AE/DCF cert. is \\*NOT\\* a starting requirement for our analysts, or our teams in other markets.\n\nDefinitely more important that you be familiar with how proformas/discounted cash flows are actually \\*calculated\\* rather than how to set up a model in AE that does it for you. It would be far more impressive to a potential employer if you could simply and accurately create a 10-year CF in Excel using some base assumptions for base rents, annual escalations, market rent, market rent growth, operating expenses, expense inflation, renewal probability, various recovery methods for in-place and speculative leases, capital expenses, and market TI's/FreeRent/LC's.\n\nThe folks at Altus group are software people, not real estate guys. It's a great program for underwriting office/industrial/flex deals, but every analyst/broker/investor worth his/her weight in salt does a bulk of their modeling/projecting returns, etc. on the back end using Excel, and only uses Argus as a starting point to generate the raw cash flow data.", "replies": [{"id": "fzk5hxv", "text": "Wow cool at my University\u2019s real estate association we actually had a guy named Jason Cheffy come talk from Altus group. Cushman and Wakefield seems cool too how do you like your job?", "replies": [{"id": "g0wt3wb", "text": "Absolutely love it. Excellent company to work for. Great culture. Good place to get your foot in the door via working as an analyst.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]