Comparative Residential analysis between the Florida Keys, FL and Tampa FL.

Overview & Purpose
In this group projects, students create a written Real Estate Market Analysis of an area
of their choice. 
This project has multiple purposes, such as:
-It lets students apply what they have learned about the analysis of real estate to the
real world, specifically to a geographical area of their interest. 
-It makes students search for, collect, analyze, and present real estate related
information, thereby using critical thinking skills.
-It helps students improve their communication and time management skills.
-And, finally, it aids students to gain team-work experience. Research shows that the
ability of students to work in a team, even if it is virtually, is one of the most important
soft skills that employers are nowadays looking for. 
I hope you will enjoy the project and find it to be a very valuable learning experience.
Task

The topic of the paper is a Real Estate Market Analysis of a geographic region. The
specific region for this analysis is selected in a joint effort by the group. You can choose
a community, a development, a city, a county, an area, a state, or even a country.  The analysis can focus on either residential or commercial real estate.  The analysis can also compare two different regions.  Select the region for your market analysis based on
either personal reasons (for example you are from a foreign country or you want to move to a certain region after graduation) or because region is particularly interesting (as it has seen a lot of changes or may be set for growth and could be a good place for
a real estate investment), etc.

The topic “Real Estate Market Analysis” is covered in Chapter 13 “Understanding Real Estate Market Dynamics”.  A sample market analysis prepared by HUD is given in the Ch. 13 student activity.  Note: This sample analysis only serves to identify some of the variables that can be part of such analysis. However, the structure that should be followed by the students for the project differs from the HUD analysis.

Factors that are typically part of a real estate market analysis include the following:
general economic conditions, employment trends, population, crime statistics,
household and other demographic trends, absorption & absorption rate (or vacancy &
vacancy rate), rent and price levels, quantity of new construction started and completed,
building permits, months’ supply, etc.  These are just some sample factors. Your
analysis may cover additional factors. 

IMPORTANT: Students are expected to write in their own words and not just copy
and paste existing content from sources! As you work on the paper, think about telling a compelling and interesting ‘story’, as opposed to just copying and pasting what someone else has stated. The required format is a Word document! Do not use text boxes for the body of the paper! 

Please stick to the project topic so that I know what you will be writing about. If you change your mind on the topic, please re-submit your group charter to me. Note that the Group Charter is mandatory and will be graded in the grading
rubric.
Format of the Paper:

I expect that your paper includes the following: 
1. The title page:
It includes at a minimum the topic, the group members’ names, the group number, a date, and the course information.
2. A table of contents (TOC): 
The TOC should be ‘automated’ and show the sections of the paper along with page numbers. 
3. An introduction:
It should include an explanation of why your group chose the particular topic. What the purpose of your analysis? The purpose of your analysis is very important! Each group will have its own unique purpose. For example, a group’s purpose might be to
find out if the current market conditions indicate that it is a good time to buy a home in area XYZ, as one of the students in the group is in the market to buy a home. The introduction should also offer a brief outline of the rest of the paper (i.e. what is to
follow). 
4. The body of the paper:
In the body you present different sections that relate to the analysis of the different variables along with visualizations, such as graphs/charts/tables. Do not use text boxes for the body of the paper! Make sure you use plenty of visualizations as this makes your paper more interesting to the reader (and use full graph/chart/table
headings and citations).
5. The summary and conclusion:
This section summarizes your findings and comes up with a conclusion based on the purpose of the paper. Make sure that the paper fulfilled its purpose, i.e. the purpose you mentioned in the introduction.
6. Citations:
Create a list of citations, ideally use a citation style such as APA or MLA. This means it lists the authors’ names in alphabetical order, then publication years, then all the other publication information. If you list a source, that source should also be mentioned in the body of the paper at the appropriate place within parenthesis. Place the author name and the year of publication or n.d. (for no date) within the parenthesis.

The paper should preferably be typed in font type and size “Arial 12”, and lines should
be single-spaced.  A guideline for the length of the paper is around 1,000 words per
student for the “body” of the paper. (For example, a group of 3 students is expected to
write 3,000 words in the body of the paper; a group of 4 students is expected to write
4,000 words in the body of the paper). I give a word count just so each group knows approximately how much to write in total.  Is does not mean that each student has to write exactly 1,000 words. For example, one student could create all the images and charts for the group and be in charge of editing and formatting and not write any text at all. Again, do not use text boxes for your writing in the word doc!
Grading Criteria

I will be using a, Excel grading rubric to grade the group’s work, which is posted in the
assignment along with these instructions. The project grade will reflect such criteria as
students’ creativity, analytical thinking, topic coverage, writing skills, grammar and
spelling, etc. Make sure you carefully review this grading rubric!

Citations of your sources are therefore very important (please review the document
“When to Cite Sources”, which is posted under the “Project” Module, under Project
Instructions and Rubric, to review when to cite a source).  I suggest that you use a
widely accepted citation style, such as APA or MLA. Please note that when you copy
and paste what someone else has stated, make sure you place that statement into
parenthesis. 
Any students that plagiarize existing content without using the appropriate citations will
receive an automatic 0 for their paper. The paper is due in the last week of class (see
the course syllabus for exact due dates and time). Late submissions will NOT be
accepted and will result in a grade of 0 for the paper.