Master of Real Estate Development

The Master of Real Estate Development, Master of Science in Real Estate Development, MRED or MsRED, is a degree offered at several universities in the United States. MRED programs generally focus on the three main elements of real estate development; design, finance, and policy.

Students are generally exposed to the full range of development functions - market analysis, finance, site planning, and project management and operations, in addition to all real estate product types - residential, retail, office, hospitality, and industrial.

Whether in the context of urban redevelopment, historic preservation, or suburban growth, MRED students learn from the developer's perspective the importance of relevant issues in law, economics, finance, market analysis, negotiation, architecture, urban history, planning, and construction project management.

The programs are a full-immersion focusing on the entire real estate development process-from dirt-to-deal, finance to façade-and includes industry topics presented by leading local and national developers.

The typical MRED student is a highly motivated individual who seeks to radically alter or enhance their career paths and join the real estate development industry. Students who graduate from the programs are committed to a career in real estate development.

For a long time, those wishing to study real estate development had to content themselves with pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree, perhaps with the option of concentration in real estate, and usually with a focus in finance.

Seeking to fill a gap in the scope of the traditional MBA, real estate development leaders across the country needed a way to education men and women to compete in the global market with superior qualifications — providing the research-based expertise necessary to solve complex problems in contemporary real estate development.

In the past three decades, a number of top academic institutions in the United States have created masters degrees specifically in real estate development.

Formal graduate education in real estate development began with the founding of the MIT Center for Real Estate in 1983. Other universities followed in establishing masters level programs with:

• University of Southern California (1986)
• Arizona State University (2003)
• Clemson University (2004),
• University of Maryland (2006)
• University of Miami (2008).

George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia is currently seeking approval to offer a degree program by September 2009

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use regulation used by local governments in most developed countries.

The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another.

Zoning may be use-based (regulating the uses to which land may be put), or it may regulate building height, lot coverage, and similar characteristics, or some combination of these.

Theoretically, the primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible. In practice, zoning is used to prevent new development from interfereing with existing residents or businesses and to preserve the "character" of a community.

Zoning is commonly controlled by local governments such as counties or municipalities, though the nature of the zoning regime may be determined or limited by state or national planning authorities or through enabling legislation.

Title (property)

Title (Legal Definition)
Evidence of ownership of real estate.
A legal document that provides evidence of ownership.

Title is a legal term for a bundle of rights in a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or an equitable interest.

The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different parties.

It may also refer to a formal document that serves as evidence of ownership.

Conveyance of the document may be required in order to transfer ownership in the property to another person.

Title is distinct from possession, a right that often accompanies ownership but is not necessarily sufficient to prove it.

In many cases, both possession and title may be transferred independently of each other.

Torrens title

Torrens title is a system of land title where a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees an indefeasible title to those included in the register.

The system was formulated to combat the problems of uncertainty, complexity and cost associated with old-system title, which depended on proof of an unbroken chain of title back to a good root of title.

The Torrens title system was introduced in South Australia in 1858, formulated by then colonial Premier of South Australia Sir Robert Torrens.

Since then, it has become pervasive around the Commonwealth of Nations and very common around the globe.