Michael Lea came to San Diego State University’s newly established Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate with a résumé full of casualties he witnessed firsthand. Combining academic work in mortgages with real-world experience in the real estate business, Lea has to find a way to attract students to a field in the doldrums. He also must reach out to San Diego’s real estate professionals, who he said are looking to upgrade their skills in time to ride the next wave of a cyclical market. He wants to invite developers, bankers and other real estate types to present case studies to classes. Lea also wants to restart a master’s program in real estate. He sat down last week to discuss the turmoil in the real estate market and the outlook for this year. [Read this article]

