As Mel Brooks once said "It's good to be the king." Now he probably was not the first to say it but if I have to cite anyone he ain't a bad one to cite. As I sit here as president of the New England CCIM Chapter (king or czar will works as well), I can say "It's good to be the president."
For those of you who have not had a chance to enter the exciting and highly lucrative world of volunteering for your chapter you are missing out. Though there is sarcasm about the pay scale, there is zero sarcasm on the issue of excitement. Honestly. If you take a look at my average week I have a ton of fun with this position. Working with my group of strong volunteers is really just half the fun. There is so much going on with events that I could spend my entire column talking about that!
However there is little that gives me more enjoyment than education. The Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute was founded on education. The institute does a lot of things great (networking, technology, social) but they do one thing exceptionally well, and that is education. Every time I get a chance to visit a class of intros or 101 students I can't wait to talk with the students and the instructors to see how the program has changed. As you may know these two foundation level courses are open for all. They are a great way to get you introduced to commercial real estate, cash flow analysis, discounted present value, NPV, IRR, NFL, MLB... ok well, some of those things are true. But they are great courses. After you take that foundation you can take any number of the other courses in any order.
Some of the big news about all of these courses is the Economic Stimulus Package from the CCIM Institute in Chicago. I have been told to distribute the following: "Between now through April 30th, all institute candidate members (or students) can register for any of our core courses at 2008 tuition rates." This comes directly from our institute president Mac McClure.
The bottom line is taking these courses and going through the steps is just half the battle. What I really really enjoy about being president of the New England CCIM chapter, it's not the fame or glory, or even our private jet; it's the thrill of pinning a new CCIM designee. So if you are at all interested in the program, we have a huge group of volunteers that are dedicated and excited to get you that shinny red pin on your lapel.