Kansas City, Missouri, USA is my home base and for the past 7 years I have been buying and selling properties on my own. Real Estate investment is my favorite subject and the area to which I devote the most time reading and learning; thus, I am writing on behalf of my application to your distinguished MS in Real Estate Program at XXXX University, my first choice for graduate school. As someone who has traveled to 38 countries and lived in South Africa for one year and Thailand for four months, I love the diversity of XXXX University and the sheer connectedness of both your university and its location. I am convinced that my extensive international experience will enable and inspire me to make positive contributions to your program and beyond.
Now 29 years old, a veteran and a world traveler, I have fallen very much in love with ‘seeing’ the world; and most of all international business—especially real estate. After completing 4 years of military service as an active duty Marine, including 7 months in Iraq, I earned my undergraduate degree in Business Management and since then my passion for real estate development has grown enormously. I am working towards my certification as a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA); and even in my spare time I find myself reading about such topics as real assets, hedge funds, private equities, and international real estate investments in general. From 2006 through 2010, with the exception of my service in Iraq (2007-2008), I managed the maintenance, including security details and day to day operations, of more than 20 buildings on Camp Pendleton worth more than $100 million, supervising a team of more than 50 Marines working on local camp projects. During these years, I took full advantage of the opportunity to practice and enhance my leadership, communication, and management skills, helping me to excel in college as well, earning my BS in Management at XXU in 2014 and finishing with a 3.4 GPA. My high level of academic performance helped to earn me 2 meritorious promotions in the Marines.
I have been in Dubai, UAE since June of 2014 serving as an Intern with XXXX Investments, which is owned by XXXX, a billionaire. I am serving as a personal assistant to his son, XXXX, who manages the firm, learning as much as I can about real estate investment opportunities and challenges, both in and out of the office. Serving in this position, the sheer excitement that I feel in such a dynamic place as Dubai for international investment has further inspired my long term goal of someday starting my own REIT, buying and selling properties in multiple parts of the World. I would also very much like to teach in the area of real estate development and investment at some point in the future. Central to my dream is the creation of enough residual income to be able to continually work on new, start up, real estate projects that are unique as well as profitable.
I have also set myself the goal of publishing at some point in a professional journal in our field or a very closely related field and I would like to do so in an area for which I have a special passion such as real estate valuation and feasibility analysis. I look forward to a professional lifetime ahead of me, managing and investing in property in emerging markets and teaching others how to do the same. As an older man, it is my full intention to have been adequately successful so as to spend my later years building primarily schools or affordable housing for the less privileged. As an investor, I have already gained solid and invaluable experience working on my own, buying, managing, renting, and selling property for 7 years now, structuring legal agreements, managing property maintenance, screening tenants, credit and background checks, etc. I have built extensive networks with groups, institutions, and individuals from all walks of life and I continue to cultivate my interest in health and fitness, holding almost a dozen certifications from various courses taken around the World.
I am convinced that my most recent experience in Dubai, in particular is providing me with the experience and analytical tools that will help me to excel in your program since I am now well versed in the art of negotiating with developers, overseeing property management teams that maintain more than 500 properties across the UAE. I have especially been enjoying doing evaluations of land and development opportunities for the future in addition to overseeing projects through the different phases of construction, completion, handover. I also find myself inspired to learn everything that I can about international real estate marketing since I find this aspect of what I am doing in Dubai to be particularly engaging.
Finally, I also feel that it is of foundational importance to me, especially for the long term, that I stay involved in volunteer work so as to contribute to my community. I volunteered at a children's hospital for 6 months when I was living in South Africa visiting with sick children, and these remain some of my most vivid and fulfilling memories to this day.
Thank you for your consideration of my application to XXU.
MS Real Estate Investment Personal Statement Sample
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