From the December issue: When the economy sours, one of the few sectors to profit is usually
postgraduate education. Laid-off employees, or simply scared ones,
historically have flocked to school to beef up their résumés in the
hopes of better positioning themselves in the job market. But for some real estate professionals, this recession is different.
At New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate Continuing
Education Program, which offers over 500 classes each year, enrollment
dropped 10 to 15 percent between fall 2008 and fall 2009. The Real Estate Board of New York has also seen a 5 to 8 percent
decline in their for-credit continuing education program participants,
who typically register in order to maintain their licenses.
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To some young real estate professionals the large, youth-oriented
networking groups in Manhattan are attracting just too many people. Justin Stewart, a former vice president of Alpine Commercial Capital,
an affiliate of Madison Realty Capital, said at gatherings of large
real estate groups, he has found it difficult to find people in
particular niches. So Stewart started asking around and interviewing dozens of young real
estate professionals to see who would be interested in joining a new,
much smaller but professionally diverse group. His newly formed organization, tentatively dubbed Young Real Estate
Opportunist Group, is made up of about 20 real estate brokers, finance
experts and development specialists, and had its first meeting in March. More

Group shot at a recent dinner of the Young Real Estate Opportunist Group and Justin Stewart (left) and Joseph Koicim (right)

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