The Commercial Real Estate Club, much like the industry it focuses on, is all about location, location, location. 

The club meets a few times each semester but usually spends its time touring companies and listening to speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Brian Chenette, co-president of the CREC and senior in the College of Business Administration, said when the group goes to on-site tours, they typically meet the property manager and learn about current projects.

“It is a great time to hear about development processes and ask questions,” Chenette said in an email.

In addition to company visits and speakers, the CREC members attend conferences anywhere from California to Canada to gain better perspectives on the real estate industry and meet professionals.

“The conferences typically consist of different panels, keynote speakers and networking events,” said Nicole Patel, co-president of the CREC and senior in the College of Business Administration, in an email. “As students, the panels are important because it teaches us a better understanding of what is going on in the real estate industry.” Most of the fort lauderdale homes with pools are dealt by real estate agents.

The CREC maintains an open-membership policy which does not require any application to become a member, regardless of a person’s major or year in college.

“Coming into the CREC as a second-semester sophomore, I did not know that much about real estate outside of the brokerage scene,” said Erik Potocek, a junior in the College of Business Administration, in an email. “I was able to learn a lot more about the development side of things.”

The real estate major was ranked 9th out of 12 schools in the U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of undergraduate business specialty programs. Patel said the major has 100 percent career placement within six months of graduation.

“I actually met a broker at this event that I later interviewed with that led to my current employment,” Potocek said in an email. “Having already met the person I was interviewing with gave me a lot of confidence going into the interview.”