Scott Fey
Scott Fey

Op-Ed by Scott Fey, CCIM, Principal, Omni-American LLC

The Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute was established in 1954 to give commercial real estate practitioners a previously unrealized opportunity to further their business practices through focused education and networking opportunities. Today, with the addition of advanced technology tools, CCIM is the global leader in commercial and investment real estate education and services. A CCIM designee is a recognized expert in the commercial and investment real estate industry and proficient in both theory and practice. Brokers, lending professionals, investment counselors, asset managers, appraisers, corporate real estate executives, developers, institutional investors, commercial leaders, attorneys, bankers and all other allied professionals can all fall under this category having achieved the CCIM designation.

The CCIM certification requires that a designee follow strictest ethical guidelines and standards of practice in the commercial real estate industry. The CCIM Institute is committed to high standards of ethical business practice and ethics are strongly enforced and reiterated to students. To achieve the CCIM designation candidates must successfully complete a graduate level program of 160 hours of classroom education. Many companies and real estate professionals are more likely to seek out experts with CCIM designation because of CCIM’s reputation for trust, knowledge and reliability.

Classes challenge attendees to test their knowledge to expand their thoughts in order to become a successful CCIM. The classes provide instrumental knowledge in areas such as internal rate of return, discounted cash flow, lease analysis, application of financing to investment, capitalization rate, market analysis, tax calculation, time value of money, and net present value among others. A majority of the financial analysis and CCIM developed investment analysis spreadsheets are provided in the first class study, CI 101, to set a solid foundation.

According to Central Arizona Chapter President, Scott Fey, CCIM who was a Principal at Omni American, LLC, “The essential analysis tools provided by each of the four core CCIM classes are invaluable in today’s marketplace. The spreadsheets provide instant analysis of complex commercial real estate possibilities and allow you to determine if the proposition is valuable or needs adjustment.” Fey is an avid user of the CCIM Site To Do Business in order to determine where to buy land for the company’s projects.

The CCIM Institute has been refining and changing the core educational program as change occurs in the industry. All four core classes have evolved over time to meet the challenges of the US commercial real estate and the world commercial real estate markets. The Institute also provides a robust program of continued real estate after the completion of the four core classes. Some of the continuing class offerings include; before and after tax discounted cash flow, commercial real estate negotiations, development demand studies and more. The core CCIM class room program is taught in the United States and internationally, with over 50 chapters worldwide.