If Linneman's book is the "state of the art" textbook for CRE, why isn't the REFAI certification program more popular?
Hi,

I often see Peter Linneman's "Real Estate Finance and Investments: Risks and Opportunities" book suggested as a great text-based resource to learn the ropes of the finance side of CRE. However, in terms of online courses, I usually see Kivel's "Break into CRE" or the Adventures in CRE Accelerator recommended more often.

When I search the sub for "REFAI," Linneman's certification program, there's only one result. Why is that? Is the REFAI program not as solid as the book? Is the cost/benefit of the other programs just better?

I'm interested in REFAI because you can add that after your name, while the other courses don't have comparable credential letters. 

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!
[{"id": "i3sqa4r", "text": "I\u2019ve been doing finance for a while now and this is the first time I\u2019ve ever heard of \u201cREFAI\u201d as a designation.\n\nHope that helps.", "replies": [{"id": "i3sw83i", "text": "That's great to know, thanks. Yeah it doesn't seem all that popular.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i3srwi0", "text": "I took their course and felt I did learn a lot from it. It brings you through the whole book, chapter by chapter and walks you through a bunch of excel models.\n\nYou do need a decent understanding of finance 101 to get through it, though it has a refresher at the beginning.\n\nTheir system was a little clunky and there were some errors on the tests that were frustrating (this was a couple years ago). Kind of wish it was just taught through coursera or something.\n\nOverall, I\u2019d say being forced to meticulously comb through the text book definitely gave me a solid grasp of how real estate deals are structured, PE waterfalls etc. plus a whole lot of interesting history of the REC industry.\n\nI doubt it\u2019s really something you can use to market yourself with if that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for, but for general intro to REFAI it\u2019s great.\n\nAlso disclaimer I\u2019m on the development side of things so I don\u2019t interact too much with the underwriting side in my day to day.", "replies": [{"id": "i3sw629", "text": "Thank you for your in-depth response!\n\nI'm looking for both a better understanding of RE finance and some way to signal to potential employers that I know basic RE finance (for entry-level jobs) since my academic background is in architecture/design. \n\nIt sounds like the REFAI course might my first criteria, but not the second one. Thanks!\n\nIf you use LinkedIn, did you add the REFAI certification to your profile?", "replies": [{"id": "i3tyr4o", "text": "I wouldn\u2019t include REFAI as a designation as I don\u2019t think anyone would know what it is.\n\nAdding it (or any other similar course) as a continuing education credit on LinkedIn makes sense. It\u2019s probably actually helpful to highlight something like this in your resume when going after an entry level position coming from a different area of study.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i3tl8nn", "text": "I learned with a Linneman textbook and it def had a \u201ctry hard\u201d vibe, like he was more interested in being perceived as a cool teacher than producing a serious textbook. Reminded me of Richard Florida tbh. Anyway, never heard of that certification.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i3u0842", "text": "I\u2019m in the middle of REFAI and it is excellent so far. Agreed that it might not have as much street cred, but it will be an excellent talking point in interviews. Most developers worth their salt will be familiar with Linneman.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i3udmbs", "text": "The only letters to come after your name that matter are as follows (in order from most valuable to least - IMO): MBA CFA CPA CCIM\nDisregard the certification, but not necessarily the course or course material.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i3wn43s", "text": "Because certifications mean nothing in commercial real estate. Tell me about your experience and the deals you have worked on nothing else really matters. Maybe CCIM if you are a broker without a strong modeling / educational background and maybe Argus but even then saying you are competent is equal to the certification.", "replies": [{"id": "i3yf97f", "text": "How do you get in if you haven't worked on deals yet then?", "replies": [{"id": "i3yqyzk", "text": "Get a good internship or grind it out as an analyst for a broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]