Anabasis
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206Course · Practitioner

Real Estate

Owning the land beneath the enterprise.

The Course

Real estate is the oldest household asset class and the one most subject to sentiment. This course teaches it as arithmetic first — cap rate, cash-on-cash, and financed return — and only then as a lifestyle choice.

You will finish able to underwrite a rental in an evening and explain to yourself what your home is and is not, as an investment.

Outcomes
  • 01

    Underwrite a rental property.

  • 02

    Understand REITs and their tax treatment.

  • 03

    Distinguish a home from an investment.

Prerequisites
  • — 201 — Investing Foundations.
Pacing

1–2 weeks · ~5 hours.

  • IModule · ~2 hours.

    Direct ownership

    The mechanics of a rental.

    A rental is a small business. This module treats it as one.

    What You Will Be Able To Do
    • — Underwrite a property with a written model.
    • — Compute cap rate and cash-on-cash.
    • — State the operational burden honestly.
    Why here

    The underwriting is the discipline; the property is the consequence.

    1. 01Underwriting a propertyInteractive20m
    2. 02Cap rate and cash-on-cashArticle12m
    3. 03Financing and leverageArticle12m
    4. 04Property managementArticle12m
  • IIModule · ~1 hour.

    REITs

    Real estate, securitized.

    REITs deliver real estate exposure without the operational burden — at a price and a set of tradeoffs.

    What You Will Be Able To Do
    • — Explain the REIT structure.
    • — Distinguish public from private REITs.
    • — Compute after-tax REIT yield.
    Why here

    Most households should own their real-estate exposure this way, not directly.

    1. 01What a REIT isArticle12m
    2. 02Public vs. private REITsArticle12m
  • IIIModule · ~1 hour.

    The home

    The largest purchase of most households.

    The home is a household's largest purchase and its most sentimental. This module separates the two.

    What You Will Be Able To Do
    • — Apply the buy-vs-rent five-year rule.
    • — State what your home is as an investment.
    • — Write a reflection on the answer.
    Why here

    Households that never do this arithmetic overpay for the wrong reasons.

    1. 01Buy vs. rentArticle12m
    2. 02The home as an investmentReflection15m
A Note from the Faculty

Most household real-estate decisions are underwritten by hope. Underwrite yours by numbers.