Online Learning

Real Estate Investing & Analysis Certificate Program

Commercial real estate is undergoing one of its most significant shifts in decades. Changing work patterns, evolving residential preferences, and a recalibrated interest rate environment have reshaped which assets win, which lose, and how investors need to think about both. The opportunity is real — but so is the competition.

The Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep Real Estate Investing & Analysis Certificate Program was built for this moment. Over 8 weeks, you’ll develop the analytical foundation that institutional CRE investors use to source, underwrite, structure, and evaluate deals, from multifamily revenue modeling and debt financing to equity waterfall structures, market analysis, and ground-up development. The curriculum builds progressively, culminating in a comprehensive Capstone Investment Case Study that mirrors a live transaction from first look through investment memo.

This is the same training that Wall Street Prep — the firm that the world’s leading real estate investment firms bring in-house to get their teams desk ready — now makes available in a self-paced online format, backed by Wharton’s Real Estate faculty and live weekly office hours.

Those who complete the capstone project and pass the final assessment earn a digital certificate from Wharton Online, which can be shared on LinkedIn and your resume.

Program Highlights

  • Train the way institutional investors do. Wall Street Prep is the training provider that the world’s leading real estate investment firms bring in-house. This program delivers those same methods — progressive financial model builds, deal process walkthroughs, and practitioner-led case studies — to a self-paced online format accessible to CRE professionals and career changers alike.
  • Build the technical skills that drive real decisions. Eight modules cover the full institutional toolkit: NOI modeling, leveraged finance, equity waterfall structures, market analysis, risk assessment, and development underwriting. You’ll build models from scratch and apply them through a live Capstone Investment Case Study spanning the entire program.
  • Hear from the people who do it. Guest speakers include senior leaders from KKR Real Estate, Related Companies, Artemis Real Estate Partners, and Lubert-Adler, alongside Wharton Business School faculty and Wall Street Prep instructor-practitioners with direct buy-side and investment banking backgrounds. Every lesson is grounded in how transactions actually get done.
  • Stay connected long after you graduate. Graduates join an invitation-only LinkedIn group, a local Slack channel, and an active global network spanning 100+ countries. In-person and virtual networking events give graduates direct access to CRE professionals and career opportunities even after the program ends.
  • Earn a credential that signals expertise. Upon successful completion, you receive a digital certificate co-signed by Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep, which can be shared on LinkedIn and resumes.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Duration: 8 weeks

Format:
Online, self-paced

Tuition:
$5,000 ($200 application fee waived before early enrollment date)

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Program Format

The Real Estate Investing & Analysis Certificate Program is structured as eight sequential weekly modules, each designed around how institutional investors actually evaluate and execute transactions. Modules combine conceptual lectures, applied modeling sessions, and guest practitioner perspectives, all connected through an integrated Capstone Investment Case Study that builds from week one through the final investment memo submission.

The program is self-paced: you complete each week’s work on your schedule, with a recommended commitment of approximately 8–10 hours per week. Live virtual office hours with program faculty are available weekly, giving you direct access to instructors when the material gets difficult. A dedicated enrollment team provides individualized support from registration through certificate.

Graduates also earn 65 CPE credits upon completion. Wall Street Prep and Wharton Online are registered with NASBA as sponsors of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors.

  • Live sessions: Weekly virtual office hours with Wharton faculty
  • Time Commitment: Recommended 8–10 hours per week
  • Assessments: Hands-on exercises and multi-part case studies with final exam
  • Certification: Digital certificate from Wharton Online + Wall Street Prep, with optional in-person ceremony in NYC
  • Tuition Assistance: Up to $550 off — apply to qualify
  • CPE Credits: 65 CPE credits (NASBA-registered)
  • Cohort Frequency: February, June, and October

Eight Modules

Self-paced Online

Introduction to Real Estate 101 Introduction to Real Estate 102
Executing Real Estate Deals Leveraging Debt Financing
Structuring Equity Partnerships Market Analysis and Informed Decision Making
Assessing Risks and Opportunities Real Estate Development

Capstone

(runs throughout all 8 modules)

Integrated Investment Case Study

Who Should Attend

The Real Estate Investing & Analysis Certificate Program is built for finance and non-finance professionals in the early to mid stages of their careers who want to apply an institutional lens to real estate investing, whether they’re entering the industry, expanding their capabilities, or evaluating CRE for the first time.

  • Real Estate Investment Professionals: Early-career analysts, associates, and operators at investment firms seeking to strengthen their underwriting and analytical skills.
  • Investment Bankers: Analysts and associates in real estate investment banking or those who work closely with sponsors and operators and want deeper fluency in how the buy side thinks.
  • Brokers: Brokerage analysts and associates pursuing investment roles or looking to add institutional-grade analytical skills to their practice.
  • Private Investors: Individuals investing personal capital or raising funds on a deal-by-deal basis who want to apply the same frameworks and processes used at major institutional firms.
  • Private Lenders: Credit professionals and private lenders who work with real estate owners and operators and want a stronger understanding of the equity side.
  • Professional Services Advisors: Lawyers, accountants, consultants, and other advisors who work with real estate owners, operators, and investors and want to speak their language more fluently.
  • Family Offices: Investors looking to build out or institutionalize direct, co-investment, or fund-of-funds capabilities in commercial real estate.
  • Support Roles in Real Estate: Fund management, investor relations, custodial accounting, and other professionals who support real estate investment operations.
  • Career Switchers: Early- to mid-career professionals from adjacent fields — finance, consulting, engineering — seeking a structured path into commercial real estate.

Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

Reach out to the enrollment team at:

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Delivered in collaboration with program partner Wall Street Prep:

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Program Directors

Todd Sinai

Todd Sinai, PhDSee Faculty Bio

David B. Ford Professor; Professor of Real Estate; Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy; Chairperson, Real Estate Department, The Wharton School

Research Interests: Commercial real estate and real estate investment trusts, real estate and public economics, risk and pricing in housing markets, taxation of real estate and capital gains

Benjamin Keys

Benjamin J. KeysSee Faculty Bio

Rowan Family Foundation Professor; Professor of Real Estate, Professor of Finance, The Wharton School

Research Interests: household finance, real estate, applied econometrics, labor economics, urban economics

Jessie Handbury

Jessie HandburySee Faculty Bio

Gilbert and Shelley Harrison Associate Professor in Real Estate, The Wharton School

Research Interests: urban economics, industrial organization, international trade

Aaron Hancock

Aaron HancockSee Faculty Bio

Real Estate Investing & Analysis Program Director, Wall Street Prep

Daniel Mann

Daniel MannSee Faculty Bio

Real Estate Investing & Analysis Program Director, Wall Street Prep

Program Faculty

Aaliyah Ameer — Formerly Vice President, Macquarie Group (Asset Management and Investment Banking); chartered accountant; 13 years of investment banking and private equity experience

Karine Blanc — Founder & CEO, Avenue Fouchard Advisors; formerly PGIM Real Estate, Lincoln Financial Group, and Fidelity Investments

Daniel Erb — Managing Partner, EM Capital; formerly Brown Gibbons Lang and FTI Consulting; MBA, Indiana University Kelley School of Business

Matan Feldman — Founder & CEO, Wall Street Prep; formerly J.P. Morgan M&A and Equity Research

JB Gough — Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Pinebrook Group; formerly Juniper Square and Jefferies

Lindsay Tsumpes — Real estate broker and investor; formerly Vice President of Capital Markets, JLL; MBA, USC Marshall School of Business

Keynote Speakers

Dean Adler — Founder and CEO, Lubert-Adler

Eric Bergin — Managing Member, 3E Management; formerly Director, Rockpoint Group

Jeff T. Blau — CEO, Related Companies

Anar Chudgar — President, Artemis Real Estate Partners

Hal Fetner — President & CEO, Fetner Properties

Deborah Harmon — Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Artemis Real Estate Partners

Joshua Kahr — Principal, Kahr Real Estate Services; Real Estate Finance faculty, Columbia University

Chris Lee — Co-President & Partner, KKR Real Estate

Evan Levy — Vice Chairman, The Amherst Group; formerly Co-Head of Real Estate, Weil Gotshal

Christopher Méndez — Managing Director, Pearlmark; CFA charterholder; MBA, Wharton

Alan Ratner — Managing Director of Equity Research, Zelman & Associates; CFA charterholder

Michael Vu — Senior Managing Director, Artemis Real Estate Partners

Simon Ziff — President, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group

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