I will be honest, yet again Bruinwalk failed me. This class was hyped up for me to only be dreadful every time I go to class. I pay attention in class because I feel disrespectful if I don't pay attention, BUT this class is boring. Professor Karlan is a very liked individual that can make lectures exciting but I can't bear to sit in a class and have his chapter notes pulled up knowing that it all comes down to whatever he says and whatever i jot down to see if I got the information needed that will be on the exams. I will say, I took this class because I was expecting an easy class but you must put in effort into this class to pass, such as, check the book for terms that do not make sense, attend the review sessions, complete the practice exams even though they are minorly helpful, and ask questions. Regardless, take this class if you simply want to learn about real estate but mainly if you want to sit in class for 80 minutes waiting for you to leave class. Do not recommend if you are a senior who is looking for easy classes, OR if you think this real estate classes will cover a lot of real estate topics and interest you.

Awesome class.
- Tests are tough, but provided study materials/reviews will prepare you well.
- Lots of information that will be directly applicable later in life
- Lectures are focused and useful (coming from engineering, I'm not used to that), and he tells interesting stories from his experience relevant to the concepts

So I am an engineering major taking this for the tech breadth requirement. I didn't know anything about real estate or used excel spreadsheets before. There is no homework in the class and no discussions, but he does have clicker questions for participation. All you have to do for this class is pay attention to lecture. Although that sounds easy, sometimes, especially when he's just going through definitions and talking about rules or taxes, it's really boring. However he also talks about his own experiences/old stories which I thought were super interesting and fun to listen to. The midterm and final can be stressful because I wasn't sure what to expect, but he releases practice midterms and finals which are extremely helpful to understand what the questions will be like and what to prepare for. But really, all you have to do is pay attention to lecture, take really good notes, and follow along when he's going through his excel spreadsheets because you will need to know what numbers to plug in and which formulas to use to solve some problems in the exams. It's necessary to study even though they are open notes exams because they are such a time crunch, especially the midterm. Also, do not waste your time doing the recommended problems from the book. They are nothing like the exam questions. I would take this class again, and pay better attention to his lectures because I ended up having to rewatch a lot of the parts I zoned out on when cramming for exams.

prof. karlan is a real estate professional and it shows. he has a lot of industry experience and i enjoyed hearing his stories, deals he'd made, and take on current market trends. the topics in this class are very applicable for people that want to go into the industry (and honestly just pretty interesting in general in my opinion). i liked the structure of lectures, which often went discussion of key terms/topics --> news article or personal experience he had with said topic --> clicker/participation question. that being said, even though i got an A in the class, i disliked how heavy an emphasis he put on learning the financial calculations and real estate computations. if you memorize how to use the 4 excel spreadsheets he gives you, you know how to do half of the problems of his tests already without using your brain.

This class is a cakewalk. There's no HW. The professor highlights the concepts that are important in class. The tests are open book/open notes. If you study the key concepts, do the test review he releases, understand how to use the excel spreadsheets, and go over the chapter questions (not the problems he assigns, just the explanation questions at the start of each chapter) you'll ace the tests. You can put a minimal amount of work and do great. Plus the class is relevant and interesting. Would recommend.

This class was very interesting and had basically no workload. Prof Karlan has a lot of experience in the field and talked about his personal experience in the real estate industry. To study for the exams, it is best to actually pay attention in lecture and also play around with the excel spreadsheets he provides. Not much studying is needed at all (the book questions are a waste of time IMO)

Grading is as follows:
Participation: 10%
Midterm: 30%
Final: 60%

The curve is generous as well. I got a high 80s raw score on both the midterm and final and got an A.

took this class with Karlan the last time he taught it.. its no longer enjoyable and easy. He's changed his grading scheme so that class was much harder for us. The above grade distribution is over a year old.. so don't be fooled. Definitely wouldn't recommend this class, you'll have to work your a** off for a B

Overrated

Karlan is a very interesting and experienced professor. Dude knows real estate like no other and has some great stories to share. As a finance/econ person, this class was not too challenging as a lot of the concepts/terms were simple review from other courses. The grade is only from a midterm and final, although I found it helpful to skim through the textbook readings and practice problems he assigns. I do understand a lot of students are coming from not econ backgrounds so maybe take my opinion with a grain of salt but overall I found this class to be light in terms of workload and test difficulty. Beyond your grade in this class, a lot of the information surrounding buying a home or investment property covered in 170 that you will learn in this class will be very helpful/useful for those who imagine themselves purchasing a home or investing in real estate in the future.

This was a pretty informative class. Besides the class having a generous grading curve, the professor is super knowledgeable about real estate and tells us personal tips for us to use in the future. By far the most valuable class that I have taken at UCLA thus far.

Some do complain that Karlan emphasizes that you drop the course if you don't know how to do certain calculations on the spreadsheet. Even though he says this, don't drop the course. I managed to get through most of the financial calculations with the Excel spreadsheets that Karlan and the TA provided. In hindsight, I am glad that I didn't drop the class.

Could I have gotten the A? Probably. But I was feeling pretty lazy this spring quarter and didn't have the effort in me to go for that extra mile. An A- is very doable; the difference between the A- and A is understanding every single detail that Karlan provides during his lectures (not just written notes, but verbal notes as well). Most of the problems involving financial calculations on the exams need to be fully understood for you to even have a chance at an A.

Your grade is based on 99% exams and 1% participation. I received an 86% on a raw scale, which translated to an A- in the class. Lectures are also bruincasted, so I never went to class. This was my first time podcasting every single lecture, but I think it turned out alright.