Happy Halloween!

We started off the day with breakfast at Andrew's Coffee Shop - another typical New York diner around the corner. Bagels and pancakes all round. We headed back to the hotel to resume work on the case. Today has been full of analysing comparable evidence, rental values, capital values, yields, GDV and construction costs. We are going to have to look into some of the evidence that has been provided further - especially a bit of formatting on tables to ensure values are in the same unit. Geltner and Miller are our new best friends! The book is really useful and provides a good template for the finance side of the project which Maria and Alina are progressing well with. 

The highlight of the day was a trip Downtown to visit the 9/11 Memorial. An interesting and emotional experience. We would definitely recommend you visit the museum if you are in town.

On our way back to the hotel, we seen some amazing (and scary...) Halloween costumes and even caught a glimpse of the Halloween Parade. New Yorkers certainly bring dressing up to another level. Great atmosphere in the City tonight. The Empire State Building has been lit up orange and green and makes a welcome change.

Our day begins at 7.30am tomorrow with a group meeting. - Amy 

Good Morning from New York!

After a sleepless night, we woke up early in anticipation of the case study. We went to Tick Tock (a typical New York diner) for breakfast burritoes and pulled pork omelettes - yum! The case was released at 8.00am and after a glitch with the printer we began reading shortly after. Initial impressions are that it is manageable but there is a lot of information to take in and graphs to decipher! Hannah, Vitali and I are delighted that it is more Real Estate-y. We are going to read through it again and aim to get the macroeconomic overview sorted today. An afternoon of hard work will be rewarded by a meal at 'Southern Hospitality' and a Broadway show. Hannah and I opted for The Lion King and Maria, Alina and Vitali are going to the Majestic Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. It will be an early night for all as we are meeting with Professor Hutchison first thing for a debrief and to get stuck in! - Amy

Arrived in the bright lights of the big city

Hiya,

This is Maria writing. Just wanting to inform everybody that we have arrived safely in New York. 

Driving into the city we could see the whole skyline of New York in the dark as we approached by car. I wish I could describe it in words for you who haven't seen it, but it is impossible. Has to be seen with your own eyes.

Now it is 2am British time, we have planned tomorrow's study schedule in detail (as much as you can do at 2am British time) and are off to bed!

Goodnight 

//Maria

Photo: View from our hotel rooms - Hannah

And we're off....

Currently sitting on the flight from London Heathrow to JFK- we enjoyed our brisk walk through the airport but thankfully all boarded just as gate was closing. Here is a group photo of us bright and early this morning - Hannah

Start spreading the news...

Welcome to MaitlandGroup's blog. We hope you enjoy our posts. Be sure to check in regularly to share the journey with us!

Vitali, Hannah, Maria, Alina and myself have been selected to represent The University of Aberdeen in the 6th Annual Cornell University Real Estate Competition in New York City. The top undergraduate academic real estate programs in the world will be competing. This year's competition hosts a record number of participants as 17 Universities have registered. Accompanied by Real Estate lecturer, Professor Norman Hutchison, we leave on Wednesday (29th October) and are lucky enough to spend a week in the city that never sleeps - although I'm sure we will be ready go to bed as it is going to be hard work!

Here's just a brief overview of what we are up against:

A case study will be released on Thursday morning at 8.00am (EST) concerning a Finance and Real Estate investment. We have until Tuesday morning to get our heads round the detailed mass of information, carry out our own external research and prepare an investment recommendation. Not only that, but we have to present our analysis in front of the big players in the New York Real Estate and Finance market! This years judging panel consists of experts from TIAA CREF, Westbrook Partners, Blackstone Group, Prudential, Moody's Investors as well as other notable finance related companies.

We have looked over previous years' case studies and have already prepped some presentation slides so we are not up to the wee hours of the morning trying to put something together. Lecture notes and heavy books are packed and we are all looking forward to the trip. 

On behalf of the team, I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in organising this trip. It is certainly going to be an invaluable educational experience. - Amy