The Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation is recognized worldwide as a symbol of excellence in the commercial real estate industry.
“CCIM is a prestigious designation. There are several commercial real estate designations out there, but not many that combine the education and experience requirements to obtain that designation,” said Charlie Mack, CCIM, broker, Mack Realty. “That’s what sets CCIM apart to a large degree, the education that’s required, in addition to the experience. It’s not just studying. It’s not just taking classes. It’s actually having done the work, closing deals and proving it.”
When a CCIM is pinned and receives their designation, it shows they’ve completed 160 hours of intensive education in the industry, and passed a national exam that can take six hours to complete.
Education is Everything
Education is the core of the CCIM program. Courses run four days on a variety of commercial real estate topics. Four 100-level courses, negotiations and ethics are required before taking the exam. Classes, offered through The CCIM Institute, are taught by industry professionals—real world education that can be used immediately.
Unlike many other chapters, Southern Nevada CCIM teaches locally. The classes are already a substantial investment of money into one’s career. The ability to take them locally is a bonus.
Roy Fritz, Southern Nevada CCIM president and first vice president at CBRE, recently encountered a colleague who relayed a story of frustration trying to acquire a property. “The broker on the other side of the deal didn’t really have a correct understanding of the contract concept in order to accurately message and/or understand the benefits and risks of this property. So he looked down at my [CCIM] pin and said, ‘If I was working with a CCIM I know I wouldn’t have this problem.”
He added, “There’s definitely an understanding in the marketplace that, when working with a CCIM, you’re working with a professional. You know they know what they’re talking about because of all the education they’ve gone through just to get that pin.” He got his designation in 2018 and took it a step further to serve on the CCIM Board.
Beginnings
Every organization starts somewhere, with someone or a group of some-ones. Along the way, newly formed groups often struggle to find funding, sponsors, even members. Organizations that succeed usually do so because they’ve got a great membership.
Southern Nevada CCIM has succeeded for more than 38 years.
“We started forming the Southern Nevada CCIM chapter in 1986,” said Soozi Jones Walker, president/broker, Commercial Executives Real Estate Services. “It was myself and Connie Bobo and a handful of people, many of whom are still involved.” Jones Walker was the third woman in Nevada to receive the CCIM designation.
The journey started when Jones Walker and Bobo took a couple CCIM classes. “The best education I ever had was when I found CCIM in 1984,” said Jones Walker.
There were CCIM chapters nationwide. Bobo suggested forming one in Las Vegas. The original gatherings included Americana Group members (now Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices), Charlie Mack, Gregg Corlyn with First American Title, and were small enough to meet in bank conference rooms or title company offices after hours.
“You’d never guess we’d get to where we are now with the start that we had,” said Mack. There just weren’t that many CCIMs in Nevada. He was the fourth. Today there are around 100 in Las Vegas.
Early on the founders began finding ways to support the people who belonged to the chapter. They didn’t want the group to be just for designees, but also for candidates working for the designation, and sponsors who could network with members. “So that everybody could make money together,” said Jones Walker.
“We tried to build it up to where it is now, but there’s been a lot of people between me getting my pin in 1990 and Soozi getting her pin 1991,” said Mack. “Between then and today there have been a lot of people who put a lot of time and effort into the chapter.”
Drew Levy, CCIM, broker/salesman, ERA Real Estate, got involved with the chapter in 1994, and received his designation in 1996. “The chapter struggled a lot because it just didn’t have the financial backing it has today. In the early days we didn’t have the sponsorship group that we have now that helps support the chapter. Everything was generated by our dues and I don’t think we even did fundraisers like we do now. It was a struggle. There were times we thought about shutting it down because we didn’t have the support.” Greater Las Vegas Board of REALTORS® (now the Las Vegas REALTORS® Association) stepped in to offer support; other sponsors followed.
“It was worth it,” said Levy. “Because it was a good group of people, dedicated REALTORS®, CCIMs. We started to bring on sponsors and were lucky in the early days Gregg Corlyn, First American Title, became one of the big sponsors who kept us going.”
The organization also began monthly luncheons with the goal from the beginning to have cutting edge speakers. In 1990 they hosted the first panel of mayors to explain what was happening in their jurisdictions and why CCIMs would want to do business with their clients there. Senator Harry Reid spoke annually. When congressmen were in town, they were invited to speak. Those early luncheons weren’t attended by hundreds of members; today they are.
CCIM education has evolved to keep pace with the changing commercial real estate industry. Courses remain cutting edge.
“Education is more important than ever,” said Bobbi Miracle, Southern Nevada CCIM education chair and senior vice president with Commercial Executives Las Vegas. “In a declining or flourishing market people who have education are able to step ahead of the rest and excel in the market. While our education is difficult, designees that have earned the CCIM pin have, not only passed a series of long exams, but have also demonstrated expertise in the field with the portfolio of qualifying activities that is required. Our designation holds us to a higher standard than anyone else in our industry.”
Education has always been the touchstone for CCIM. Earning the designation is a badge of competence, said Mack. “That’s the reason I got the designation. I wanted to be a professional. I’d been in the business for a few years before I took the first course, then took them all within 18 months.”
Tim Castello, Southern Nevada CCIM president elect and principal at Castello Group, received his designation in 2019, a year before the pandemic caused CCIM education to go online. “Everything went dark for a while and virtual [education] was a path,” he said. “We’re starting so see some of the education in terms of in person classes coming back.”
Castello is a developer, not a broker. He wanted the designation for the education. “I thought the education background was helpful, and a lot of it was going through site selection and valuations of properties and a little bit of a different process when we put our pro formas together, but there are some similarities with coming to values and understanding cap rates. That information was helpful to me as a developer.”
“I’m a proponent for candidates to take classes in person,” said Adam Gregory, Southern Nevada CCIM designation promotion chair and a senior vice president at CommCap Advisors. “I know that, of those people that do not pass their final exam, the majority of them did their classes 100 percent online. That has been the biggest evolution I’ve seen in [CCIM education]–the Institute’s push to do more online and less chapter-organized classes.”
In-person classes have the added benefit of introducing participants to professionals from all over the country. “I did all my classes in person,” said Castello. “I liked the social experience and I learned better in the classroom.”
The courses have evolved over the years as both the national organization and the southern Nevada chapter have changed. In 1990 there were six classes rather than four, taken in person over five days, followed by an exam on Saturday.
“You also had to prepare a demonstration report prior to sitting for the exam, and the demonstration report was comparable to an MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute) appraisal. It was a laborious task,” said Mack. He earned his designation in November 1990. He had to—he was incoming chapter president. (The MAI designation is held by appraisers experienced in valuation of commercial property.) Jones Walker received her designation the next year and was the next president.
“I have been the first and only CCIM instructor in Nevada since 2003, and we never had one before that,” said Jones Walker. “CCIM currently has only 64 instructors worldwide.”
Now a second Nevada instructor is training. Miracle is working her way through a training program every bit as difficult as the courses that lead to the pin.
“I’ve been preparing for two months for this next assignment,” said Miracle. “But it makes it fun. It’s the ultimate give-back. It’s an absolute honor to be considered strong enough in my field to be able to instruct individuals wanting to learn.” Miracle joined CCIM when she started in the field in 2001, and got her designation in 2005.
CCIM offers additional education through the Robert L. Ward School of Real Estate, a division of CCIM. The center offers courses that range from three hours to two days, in conjunction with, but not required for, the designation. In 2024 the Ward Center started an introduction to a commercial real estate certificate program. The 40-hour curriculum is 20 hours required classes and 20 hours of electives.
“At the local level we’ve added mini-workshops and they’ve been really well received,” said Fritz. “They’re a smaller group setting, maybe 20 to 30 people, and dive into a topic much more deeply. So for example, our last was highest and best use of property based on building codes and demand in the area.”
Pay it Forward
Usually young professionals join in their mid- to late-twenties. Before that they just don’t have enough actual experience closing transactions to qualify for the designation, Gregory explained. Every organization that thrives does so in part by attracting new and younger members who become invested and move into leadership roles.
Gregory is the designation promotions chair, responsible, in part, for reaching out to new members. “I feel like we’ve done a good job in bringing in people who are newer designees, younger professionals to step up and serve.” Southern Nevada CCIM is able to offer scholarships; not every chapter can, and few can do so at the same level.
Jones Walker just finished 10 years on the CCIM foundation board. “Our whole job was to raise money and give it away,” she said. Many of the chapter’s CCIMs received scholarships from the foundation. “We also have a diversity program, and a veteran’s program where, depending on certain qualifications with our veterans, we will give them upwards of $25,000 to use for real estate education, so they can start a new career—giving back to them for what they’ve given us.”
“When we give a candidate a scholarship, we’re essentially telling them ‘We’re counting on you one day to step up and pay us back’,” said Gregory. Paying back means participation on a committee and hopefully on the board.
Southern Nevada CCIM forms alliances with universities, integrating CCIM education into the system, or if they have a strong master’s degree program, giving students credit toward their designation. The most recent university alliance is with University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
“We really worked hard with UNLV this year, and I showed space recently with one of our UNLV graduates who was standing side by side with me, representing a client,” said Miracle. The alliance makes a real world difference.
Why is it important for young professionals in commercial real estate to consider getting the designation? Because they can serve their clients better with the knowledge they gain. Because they have a worldwide network of professionals with the same ethics and knowledge to work with. Because it elevates professionals in the industry.
As of March 2024, there are 6,900 CCIM designees in the world and 2,800 candidates for the designation.
There’s always room for more.
Community
“CCIM’s community outreach is really important to me,” said Fritz. “It’s much more on the local level.” Chapter charities run from donating time to a homeless youth center to working with Three Square food bank, to an extensive partnership with an area elementary School.
“Twenty-seven years ago when Lucinda Stanley was president we started our wine tasting event to raise money for charity,” said Jones Walker. The event continues to this day, and the funds continue to go to John S. Park Elementary School. “They were really hurting then and we continue to support them annually in every sense of the word: whatever they need. Do you need clothes for the kids? Electronics for them during COVID? We used money to buy them wireless adapters for their homes. There’s a lot of community outreach that has always worked throughout the CCIM program.”
Southern Nevada CCIM’s history is filled with designees who have remained involved over the course of long careers. “It’s not just about our designees,” said Miracle. “We have a lot of sponsors that have been with us since the beginning. They helped us create this new generation of that young talent that’s so excited to be involved. Watching them gaining the knowledge has just bettered our industry as a whole.”
While the wine event will always be the marquee event, the charity fundraiser, every year Southern Nevada CCIM tries to outdo the previous year’s sponsor event, with everything from Maverick Helicopters tours to Golden Knights games to events at AREA15 and the Sphere. Other networking events might include wetlands cleanup or reading books to children—giving back and networking all at once.
“What the organization did for me, it helped me grow not only in leadership, in learning how to be a leader, but also in the networking side because when I started in the CCIM program in Nevada there were I believe four of us in the entire state,” said Jones Walker. “That has dramatically grown now. It helped me expand beyond the borders of Nevada and find credible people to work with and do business with across the country.”
Southern Nevada CCIM has a long, rich history in the Las Vegas Valley. That coupled with the professionalism of CCIMs inspires confidence in clients.
“I’ve been involved in the organization many years and seen it grow,” said Levy. “It’s a pleasure to have the industry affiliates from the title business and construction, and all those folks that we may need any given day, and any given deal, that support us. [They] come to our events and meetings and pay for sponsorships because they see the value of working with CCIMs and working within the industry.”
“Just seeing people that started the organization and have thrived through it over the years and seeing where they’ve gone in their careers. It kind of leads you on a path of where you could go when you’re young and starting off in the business,” said Castello. “Obviously the education is very important and very helpful at getting you to be better at what you do, but so is the networking and the organization, the people you might have as mentors and seeing what they did with their careers.”
