Land Valuation and Rural Real Estate Minor

Program Coordinator/Contact

Nicole Klein, Associate Director
Ness School of Management and Economics
Harding Hall
605-688-4141

Program Information

The Land Valuation and Rural Real Estate minor will prepare students in the application of skills in economics, finance, mathematics, and law to the issues associated with land and real estate property ownership, development and transfer. This minor will benefit students pursuing a broad portfolio of careers in bank lending, real estate investment trusts, farm and estate succession planning, insurance, construction firm management, economic development and planning, as well as providing specific preparation towards appraisal or real estate certification and licensing.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students earning a minor in Land Valuation and Rural Real Estate will be able to:

• Verify legal descriptions of real estate properties in public records.
• Provide market analysis of comparable nearby properties to establish value comparisons and to provide alternative solutions to assessing a property’s value where similar properties do not exist.
• Prepare and maintain data on each property, including background research, observations, methods used in estimating the property’s value, location, and lease records.
• Apply math and finance formulas such as discounted cash flow analysis, financial ratios and returns to the equity and mortgage, lease returns, gross and net income multipliers, along with direct and yield rates of return, regression analysis, and basic statistics, etc.
• Ability to articulate methods of research and analysis in producing a final report.

Academic Requirements

A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required for the courses in the minor.

Course Delivery Format

The program offers courses on campus, with limited online coursework, usually during the summer.