Do You Speak Real Estate?

Real Estate is a layered industry with terminology to match. Each sector -- commercial, industrial, multi-family, hospitality, and so on -- speaks its own dialect. Toss in some slang and acronym and it's a confusing alphabet soup for the new professional and student. Fluency separates the knowledgeable from the neophyte -- especially in an interview -- and students often ask, "how does a novice develop a real estate vocabulary?"

Here are my curated recommendations, designed to bring you up to speed faster than an expedited building permit on a good day. All of the industry resources below reflect the daily world of real estate, as opposed to textbook definitions that can lack nuance and practical use.

A Go To Resource:

Published by NAIOP, the online dictionary can sort definitions in multiple ways -- alphabetically, specific real estate sector, and so on:

https://www.naiop.org/education-and-career/industry-terms-and-definitions/

Industry Publications, Online, free access:

NAIOP's Development Magazine: https://www.naiop.org/research-and-publications/magazine/

Urban Land Institute's Urban Land: https://americas.uli.org/publications/

Institute of Property Management's Journal of Property Management: https://jpmonline.org/

Industry Publications, Subscription Based:

Building Owners & Managers (BOMA): https://boma.org/resources-publications/

Wall Street Journal: Every Wednesday Craig Karmin publishes a commercial report with three news topics while the Friday Mansion Report is filled with residential eye candy. Students receive a discount. www.wsj.com

Architectural Favorite

International architectural firm Gensler's Dialogue: https://www.gensler.com/publications/ discusses design and construction trends with examples and great visuals.

Property Technology

The Fifth Wall, a VC firm focused on real estate tech (proptech) that tracks green building, decarbonization, and AI in the built environment publishes Fifth Wall: https://www.fifthwall.com/

Sustainability

The industry leader and LEED certification entity, The U.S. Green Building Council: https://www.usgbc.org/resources

International Living Future Institute: https://globalabc.org/members/our-members/international-living-future-institute

San Francisco based Stok publishes The Stok Report, quantifiable information on green building and practices: https://stok.com/news-insights/

Market Reports: look to the major brokerages and developers for specific market reports, usually published quarterly and free:

Commercial: Published quarterly by JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, and Colliers.

Residential: Greystar

Industrial: Prologis

Retail: Simon Property Group

San Francisco Bay Area News

San Francisco Bay Area broker Jeffrey Weil of Colliers has been writing 'Office Perspectives,' a salient and meaty newsletter for years. Email Jeff at: jeff.weil@colliers.com to subscribe.

Let me know your real estate reading favorites that build professional fluency!