Commercial Real Estate Investing 101 (Udemy.com)
The Comprehensive Beginner's Guide to Multifamily, Industrial, Retail, and Office Real Estate Investing
Created by: Justin Kivel
Last updated August 2026
What you will learn
- The foundational concepts necessary to analyze commercial real estate investment opportunities
- The key return metrics institutional investors use to evaluate deals
- How equity and debt are used to capitalize a commercial real estate transaction (and the pros and cons of each capital source)
- The key commercial real estate loan and lease terms that impact commercial property investment performance
How it compares
Against the other 75 rated Udemy courses in Real Estate on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.8 out of 5higher than 80% of them
- Reviews2,431#10 of 76 by number of reviews
- Length4.5 hourslonger than 56% of them
- Last updatedAugust 2026more recently than 68% of them
Course Description
Want to break into commercial real estate, but not sure where to start? Built by an instructor with over $1.5 billion of commercial real estate transaction experience, this course blends the core, foundational concepts of commercial real estate investment analysis with hands-on, practical application using Excel exercises, sample deal scenarios, and pre-built CRE investment analysis templates.
This course is for you if you're looking to:
Land a job in the commercial real estate industry - CRE can be an incredibly lucrative business, and this course will provide you with the investment analysis frameworks used by the largest institutions and private equity firms in the business.
Make your own commercial real estate investments - This course will walk you through the underwriting and valuation process used to value multifamily, industrial, retail, and office property acquisitions.
Invest as a passive, limited partner in a commercial real estate syndication or fund - This course walks through core commercial real estate investment analysis topics, including commercial leasing, loan sizing, key return metrics, the effects of leverage, and how different JV equity waterfall structures can impact investment performance.
This course includes graduate-level content that's taught every year in top universities across the globe, practically applied to real-life investment scenarios you might come across in the commercial real estate industry.
Here's what some of our students have had to say after taking the course:
★★★★★ "Awesome class. Engaging & real life application. Examples are well thought out and leave you wanting to learn more. On to the next 2 classes by Justin! Great teacher."
★★★★★ "This course is PERFECT. It covers everything you need to know about CRE and it is organized in a very clean and logical way. Mr. Kivel makes you understand the subject of the course easily, it is almost magic! Thank you, this is the most useful course I've done so far."
★★★★★ "This course is spot on! With almost no commercial real estate background, I really needed a deep dive into this topic that was easy to understand and absorb and this course delivered. I'm really impressed by the models and the instructor's depth of knowledge and clarity of explanations. Looking forward to his future courses!"
If you're looking to start your career in commercial real estate, make your own CRE investments, or invest in commercial real estate as a passive, limited partner, you've come to the right place.
Looking forward to seeing you in class!
Instructor Details
- 4.8 Rating
2,431 Reviews
Justin Kivel
Master real estate financial modeling, advance your career, and earn more money.
If you’re an aspiring real estate investment professional looking to break into the real estate investment field, or a current real estate professional looking to advance your career and increase your compensation, you’re in the right place.
My name is Justin Kivel, and I’m a real estate investment professional with a love for teaching. Throughout my career, I’ve worked on over $1.5 billion of closed acquisitions across multifamily, retail, office, and mixed-use properties. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in real estate investing and have spent almost a decade in the industry across private equity, finance, and brokerage roles.
Unfortunately, most of what I know today I had to learn on the job. Although great courses exist on Microsoft Excel and financial modeling, I couldn’t find a resource that was specifically tailored toward real estate investment professionals that would actually walk me through exactly what I needed to know to succeed in the real estate investment industry.
These courses are that resource.
After dozens of phone calls and coffee meetings with college students and aspiring real estate investment professionals, I realized that most people were asking exactly what I was asking when I was in their shoes.
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Reviews
By Jewel Nguyen on 4/14/2024
I am taking this course as a prerequisite recommendation, for the Masters in Real Estate Development at UC Berkeley! I love how the course is layed out - and it is extremely easy to follow. I am coming into the industry completely new, and would recommend it to anyone interested getting into CRE investing.
By Alvin Tripari on 6/3/2022
i didnt give it a full five stars because this is my first ever commercial real estate course ( i have nothing to compare it to) but i have to say that the course is rich with significant information and will definitely enroll in a more courses in the future.
By A Simon Soorej on 4/24/2021
Thank you Justin for this detailed and simplified introductory course on Commercial Real Estate investing. For someone who has just started a career in real estate brokerage, this course has built a strong foundational knowledge. I have taken up a few of your other courses. Thank you once again!
By Nicola Merola on 11/21/2020
Chi ha gi un approccio all'investimento immobiliare trover questo corso utilissimo per comprendere sia le dinamiche generali che i singoli passi su Excel per una corretta valutazione delle metriche di valore sia per la valutazione che per finanziare l'operazione.
Adatto a managers, investitori e studenti per comprendere il linguaggio e interfacciarsi con analisti con pi esperienza.
By Zachary T. Furr on 11/14/2020
Commercial Real Estate Investing 101 is a really good course. I thought it was very thorough and all-inclusive. I plan on going back through the course to refresh my memory of certain details, and I plan on taking more of Justin's courses in the future. I would like to congratulate Justin on producing a great course and thank him for making this information available.
By Sigit Syahranie on 11/1/2020
This course refreshing all the applied terms in my current career. Only some if it applied in my current career, but it is good to know so I will understand all the emphasized indicator from my Fund Management team and how to relate it in the Business Development activities.
By Whmiller@outlook.com on 10/17/2020
Good presentation with very relevant material.
By Lauretta Pinckney on 10/3/2020
Novice, no prior experience.
By Albani V on 9/24/2020
Great easy to follow summary! thank you!
By Beni Patel on 9/20/2020
Great intro - packed with numbers. Would have been nice to end with a couple of examples of deals on the market and analyze the waterfall adn determine if they are good investments or not. Apply the knowledge you have given us.
By Roman Guskov on 9/8/2020
Great material! Good to summarise the basics and enrich them with details and missing bits. Should have taken it prior to other more complex courses from Justin.
By Loren N Kaplan on 9/4/2020
Excellent, clear teaching style!
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 96 / 100










