Recommendations/reviews for CRE education and financial modeling courses
Hello all! 

I'm looking to transition from a sales role in residential real estate finance to a non-sales commercial real estate role (ideally via an investment or development firm). I have a BS in Business Administration, with emphasis in Real Estate &amp; Finance, but feel as if I can benefit from one of these online courses as it has now been 7 years since my graduation date. I also hope that it would demonstrate to a prospective employer that I am serious and committed to making this change in my career. Thoughts? Your professional input would be very much appreciated. 

Some course providers that I am considering: 
REFM
ULI 
CCIM 
Breaking Into Wall Street
Wall Street Prep 

[{"id": "d9xng27", "text": "I don't have an answer but I am also interested ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d9xwzel", "text": "CCIM all the way.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d9y636z", "text": "Get an MBA ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d9yfpor", "text": "I do accounting in cre at a small firm. I'd love to move to analysis at a large one. Im about to complete my mba, so im sort of looking at 'whats next.' From my research, several thoughts ill rattle off. CCIM seems big on asset management, but not big on the investment side. An MBA in real estate would be a great option. Wharton has a great program. I've already almost completed my MBA, getting a second, even from a ranked program, would have limited payoff financially and personally. A CFA would be a good step, as would a masters in finance or a masters in BI. I'd probably want one of those before trying to sit for the CFA. An MRED is a great option as long as it us a finance heavy program. If not, it would be much more sell-side oriented. To figure that out, I'd browse their course offerings. I've considered trying to back myself in by doing an argus cert even though I don't use argus at work. Personally, I think I'm going to get another masters and try to pivot into analytics from accounting. I've looked at some of the programs you listed. And I've watched a bunch of the YouTube videos from Breaking Into, but I worry that those would be a very expensive flash-show, where I wouldn't end up learning much, and wouldn't have any real accredidation to back it up. Not personally knowing anyone who has gone through one of them surely biases me, though, in their defense. ", "replies": [{"id": "d9yquxo", "text": "Thanks so much for your detailed feedback! Going for an MBA is something I aimed for in the recent past; however, I was not able to achieve my targeted GMAT score after 8+ months of study and did not want to settle for a low-ranked program (hence my desire to complete one of the above mentioned private courses). I've seen some of the BIWS videos also, but like you mentioned, don't come with any accreditation, so I'm not really reliant on any of those. Between what you mentioned in a separate post about REFM and another user recommending CCIM, I'll probably give more serious consideration between those two programs. ", "replies": [{"id": "d9yt96t", "text": "Cool! Good luck, and if six months from now you complete, you should totally do a case review here!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d9ygcmb", "text": "I'm making a second comment, which I know is poor firm. I'm looking at the refm training right now. People online seem to say its pretty good training. Again, my concern with a cert would be that its an expense no employer cares about(?).\r\n\r\nEDIT: refm is ridiculously cheap. If it delivers on the learning, I'd say its worth it, but again, I really question the value of certs like that, especially because it's so cheap.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "da0hl5t", "text": "I didn't find ULI to be worth the money, FWIW. $500/class for web based classes and I learned...? Not a whole lot. Basically $500 to pad the resume without much earned between the ears. This was more than five years ago.\n\nIf you'd like to work in office, retail, or industrial as an analyst / acq officer / asset manager [get Argus certified (DCF v15)](http://customer.argussoftware.com/s.nl/sc.39/category.5958/.f) and brush up on your Excel skills via udemy.com for cheap.\n\nCCIM I've heard good things about.", "replies": [{"id": "da0ynsb", "text": "Thanks for your input! I recently heard that Argus is no longer providing support for the their DCF certification: http://info.argussoftware.com/argus-dcf-eos-announcement\n\nDo you know if this applies to what you mentioned? ", "replies": [{"id": "da0zju6", "text": "I don't think the above applies to self learning, since the link I provided is still active and your link doesn't rule it out.\n\nIf you're unaware: Argus has been pushing its new version, Enterprise, since 2013.  DCF won't go away however because everyone uses it and Enterprise is so damn different and AE has had some technical difficulties that provide headwinds.\n\nDCF modeling remains the most in demand technical skill for anyone who values office, industrial, or retail assets.\n\nExcel skills are the 1B to that 1A.", "replies": [{"id": "da1i6mn", "text": "Gotcha. Appreciate the input ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "da4m97f", "text": "I'm interested in BIWS. Poor college student here that can't afford it. Does anyone have login info?", "replies": [{"id": "dab22pp", "text": "Hahaha same. Would you guys be down to split either BIWS, WSO, TTS for the REIT course? ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]