on On April 20, 2018, the Cornell Center for Real Estate and Finance and the Cornell Baker Program in Real Estate had the pleasure of hosting the 3rd annual Titans of Real Estate conference in New York City, with this year’s event centered around the theme of real estate family businesses. The event had five panelists,… Continue Reading 3rd Annual Titans of Real Estate Wrap Up (3 mins)
on The contractual elements of real estate transactions can be complex and cumbersome. In order to protect their respective positions and overcome the barrier of lack of trust, parties to a transaction are forced to utilize intermediaries such as lawyers and escrow accounts. Smart contracts are blockchain-based tools that have the potential to transform the process… Continue Reading Smart Contracts: Changing the Way We Do Deals (6 min)
on Property valuation is a necessary task for parties across the real estate industry. Development, investment, lending, and brokerage all rely on determining the value of property by either using external valuations and appraisals or by constructing internal valuation models, typically on ARGUS or Excel. Underwriting is core to the real estate industry as it is… Continue Reading The Potential of Machine Learning Real Estate Valuation Models (5 mins)
on The pace of innovation in real estate has continued to grow as industry actors, entrepreneurs, and VC funders search for the next true “disruptor.” In 2017, VC funding jumped 200% to $12.6bn, up from $4.2bn in 2016[i], a testament to the potential that the VC community sees in real estate. As tech innovation continues to… Continue Reading PropTech 101: Intro to Disruption in Commercial Real Estate (4 mins)
on The relationship between hospitality companies and online travel agencies (OTAs) has widely fluctuated over the past two decades. The industry’s responses to the threat of OTAs have thus far had limited impact. This article explores a more drastic solution: vertical integration. When OTAs emerged in the late 90’s, many hospitality companies held a positive outlook… Continue Reading Frenemies: Is Vertical Integration the Answer to OTAs?
on At a lodging conference in December 2016, Laura Paugh, Marriott International’s SVP of Investor Relations, remarked that Airbnb hasn’t “[made] headway in the corporate environment, which is really [Marriott’s] bread-and-butter business.”[i] This statement is reflective of the hospitality industry’s general stance on Airbnb: the platform hasn’t yet made a material impact because Airbnb does not… Continue Reading Is PUBLIC Hotel the Answer to Airbnb?
on On September 13th, 2017, Cornell University dedicated the new Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The dedication celebrated the official opening of the campus, which will house 300 graduate students this year and will eventually scale to service over 2,000. The dedication was attended by academic, political and business leaders, including:… Continue Reading Cornell Tech: Innovating by Example
on The Cornell Baker Program is delighted to welcome Michael Gross, Vice Chairman of WeWork, back to Cornell to wrap up our Distinguished Speaker Series for the year. Founded in 2010, WeWork has quickly become a widely-recognized entity in the real estate industry and is on pace to become the fastest-growing lessee of new space in… Continue Reading Distinguished Speaker Series: Michael Gross, Vice Chairman of WeWork
on In the next decade, Smart Cities are likely to have a transformative impact on the way that we live, work, and play. With a projected cumulative global spend of $1.5 trillion on Smart City technologies by 2020 (Frost & Sullivan), implications will be felt across geographies and industries. Central to any city is its real… Continue Reading Is Digital the Next Vertical? Impact of Smart Cities on Real Estate
on From January 18-21, 2017, the Baker Program in Real Estate Class of 2018 visited Dallas, Texas to participate in their domestic inter-session trek. Their first full day in Dallas began with a brief morning walk through downtown towards Mercantile Place. On the way, the students passed the iconic Dallas eyeball; it would be interesting to… Continue Reading Dallas, Texas: Day Two, Morning