UBC Sauder International Real Estate Case Competition

On behalf of the Center for Urban Economics and Real Estate at UBC Sauder School of Business, we invite you to enter a team in the UBC-Sauder International Real Estate Case Competition, which we are running this year while the Cornell International Real Estate Case Competition is on a one-year hiatus. The competition will follow the rules and format of previous Cornell events. The details for this year’s event are as follows:

1. Team Registration – Deadline: Friday, October 4 - A representative from each team must complete the 2019 UBC-Sauder International Real Estate Case Competition Team Registration Form  to formally register the team. Each team must select a team name that has no affiliation with their school. The competition consists of blind judging, so your team name should not be one that the judges can guess your university. 
2. After completion of the registration, a representative must submit a written document stating that each team member is a full-time undergraduate student enrolled at your school. This letter must be signed by a faculty advisor or a university official/registrar and submitted to the Competition Coordinators at ubcirecc@sauder.ubc.ca 
3. Team Registration Fee:  USD 400 (tax included).  Please indicate the preferred payment method on the on-line registration form.  We will send you an invoice accordingly.
4. Presentation Format – Presentation files are due by 7:00pm on Monday, November 11 at the Welcome Reception.  The files should be in both PDF and PPT format saved on a USB drive containing only your presentation. Hardcopies of the presentations are not required.
5. Competition Schedule

A detailed event agenda will be distributed to registered teams at a later date. 

6.   Invited Teams Include: Baruch College-CUNY, Brown University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Concordia University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Indiana University, Konkuk University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, McGill University, National University of Singapore, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Queen's University, Renmin University of China, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, University of Aberdeen, University of Alberta, University of Auckland, University of Calgary, University of Cambridge, University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Connecticut, University of Guelph, University of Hong Kong, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Sydney, University of Texas at Austin, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Villanova University

7.   Hotel Arrangements - Each team is responsible for making its own hotel and travel arrangements to the competition.  

A room bloc has been created at Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel at special rate CAD 135 per night plus taxes for a superior two doubles suite for the nights of November 6 to 12. 

Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel (838 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC) is located in the heart of the sports and entertainment district of downtown Vancouver, only 10 min walk away from UBC Robson Square campus.

Hotel reservation procedures will be announced in the week of September 23, 2019 to schools that have indicated an interest in the event or submitted their registration forms. Note: the room bloc is limited and will be first come first served

1. TEAM COMPOSITION: Each school may enter only ONE team of no more than six members. Team members must be currently enrolled undergraduate students at the school entering the team. Beyond the educational component of this event, the primary purpose of the UBC-Sauder International Real Estate Case Competition (UBC-IRECC) is to showcase the talent of students who will be graduating this and next academic year and moving into the job market.
2. TEAM NAME: Each team should select a team name which contains no reference to their school, mascot, etc. No logos or any other school references may be included on the team’s presentation materials. This includes presentation slides, clothing, etc. No verbal references to school affiliation are to be made to the judges during a team’s presentation or conversations with judges outside of the presentation room. Each team is to be referred to by their selected team name throughout the competition.
3. FACULTY ADVISORS: Each team should have a faculty advisor. Faculty advisors are invited to attend the competition if they wish but they must register with the team by the registration deadline (Friday, October 4). During the competition, faculty advisors are not permitted to attend the presentations of any other teams during the preliminary round until after their team has presented. The role of the faculty advisor is two-fold:

• a. To formally acknowledge and approve of the team's participation in this competition on behalf of the university and to confirm that all team members are currently enrolled as undergraduate students at the specified school; and
• b. To provide advice and guidance to the student team in preparation of the competition prior to receipt of the case (but not during the 5 days of case analysis or the competition). Please note that the faculty advisor is not allowed to discuss the actual details and merits of the case with the team, nor should they provide or facilitate outside assistance to the team from others. The purpose of the competition is to judge how the team (not its faculty, alumni, or friends) has approached the questions and issues presented.

4. TEAM REGISTRATION AND RESUMES: All teams must complete the online Team Registration form by Friday, October 4 and submit additional materials outlined in b. and c. below.

• a. Team Registration form: Please fill out the registration form in its entirety. Each team will also designate a team lead to be the primary point of contact in the event that the competition coordinators need to contact the team directly while in Vancouver.
• b. Written documentation that all student team members are registered undergraduates at the school. This can be on official letterhead from the University or via email from the faculty sponsor. The letter must individually list the names of the participating team members.
• c. Registration is not compete until the registration payment of  USD 400 is made, by either credit card, check, of EFT.. 

5. CASE DISTRIBUTION: The Case will be distributed at 8:00 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) Thursday, November 7, 2019 via email to each team. Once the case is distributed, outside assistance is NOT permitted. Teams cannot discuss any details of the case with anyone who is not a primary team member. Faculty, students, alumni, alternate team members, family members, peers, and industry professionals are NOT allowed to advise the team members on the case. The goal of the competition is to judge how the team (and not its faculty, alumni or friends) has approached the questions and issues involved. Teams may access any public research data available to them via the internet or other electronic means only. Invariably, some students will try and find out which actual asset the case is about and then contact principals and agents associated with the transaction to gain an advantage. Not only is this behavior prohibited but is easy to discover and may result in the team being disqualified from this and future competitions.

6. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CASE: Questions that arise after the case has been distributed should be submitted by email to the competition chair, Professor Tsur Somerville (tsur.somerville@sauder.ubc.ca) and will only be answered via email to all teams IF the case writers deem the answer as being critical to a team's ability to solve the case AND the case does not contain enough information for the team to solve the issue themselves. When in doubt, make an assumption, state it, and move on with your analysis.

7. CASE PRESENTATION MATERIAL: All team presentation materials are due by 7:00 p.m. on November 11, 2019 at the Welcome Reception the evening before the competition. Electronic presentations must be submitted in PDF and PPT format via USB memory drive. The PPT version will be used for presenting and the PDF will be provided to judges on a tablet. If your PPT version does not load properly, you will be asked to use the PDF version to present. Only one submission is allowed per team. No changes to a team’s presentation will be allowed after its submission. In the event of multiple submissions, only the first one will be considered. Teams can continue to work on their oral presentation in preparation of the competition. No hardcopy presentations are required.

8. PRESENTATION CONTENT: Each team’s presentation must only address the asset(s) and circumstances outlined in the case study. Teams are not allowed to introduce additional assets or elements not described in the case study. Such additions will be deemed inadmissible if presented. While we strongly encourage imaginative solutions, having all teams working on the same problem will allow judges to assess each team’s analysis and their approach to the problem.

9. PRESENTATION ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: Each room will be seeded with one team for the first round of the competition. The seeded teams will be drawn from past Cornell competition winners. The rest of the teams’ room assignments, as well as the team presentation order for each room, will be determined by a random draw during the reception on November 11, 2019.

10. LIVE COMPETITION PRESENTATIONS: On Tuesday, November 12, 2019, live presentations will be organized as follows: there will be a morning Preliminary Round with 4-5 teams per room running concurrently. The top team from each of the Preliminary Round rooms will present in the Final Round in the afternoon. Final determination of teams per room and final round qualifying will depend on the number of participating teams.

• a. Team Participation: Every team member must participate with a speaking part in the presentation.
• b. Presentation Attendance: Student team members (primary nor alternates) and faculty advisors are not permitted to attend the presentations of any other teams during the preliminary round until after their team has presented. If a team is participating in the final round, team members and faculty advisors may watch the other final presentation only after their team has presented. All other participants may attend the Final Round presentations.
• c. Preliminary Round: The first round of presentations will begin circa 8:30 a.m. All team electronic presentations will be loaded onto the computer in the designated room prior to the beginning of the first round. Each presentation will be strictly limited to 15 minutes in length followed by a maximum of 20 minutes of questions from the judges. If teams complete their presentation in less than 15 minutes, then the extra time will be added to the judge’s Q&A time, for a total maximum time of 35 minutes. If the presentation and Q&A combined lasts less than 35 minutes, the next team will be asked to make their presentation. It is therefore crucial that all teams be prepared and ready at their assigned room in the event they are called earlier. Any team that is late by more than 10 minutes will be disqualified.
• d. Comment Cards: Judges are required to select the best team from each room. They will complete a comment card for each team. The comment cards will not be tallied to determine the winning team. Teams will be judged on several different areas, including each team’s analysis, ability to answer questions, and overall presentation. The comments will be shared with each team after the competition. The comments are primarily for feedback purposes. The winning team in each room will be determined by the judges after the final presentation. The teams that win their rooms will advance to the final round.
• e. Judges Feedback: After the preliminary round each team will have 10 minutes with the judges to get feedback on their presentation, starting at 12 p.m. The order of feedback will be the same order as the initial presentation order. It is important that each team reports back to their assigned presentations room prior to this time in case the judges finish deliberations early.
• f. Final Round: The six winners from the Preliminary Round will present and will be judged by a new group of judges. The presentation format will be 15 minutes for team presentation followed by 15 minutes for Q&A. All participants may attend the Final Round presentations except those finalists who have not yet presented. The judges will determine the best presentation from among the finalist teams.

11. AWARDS: The decision of the judges is final. Monetary awards to each member of the top six teams will be distributed via Canada Post after the competition. Appropriate information for Canadian tax rules will be required from each individual prior to cash distribution. The prize distribution is as follows: 1st place - $C 10,000; 2nd place - $C 5,000; 3rd place - $C 2,500; 4th place - $C 1,750; 5th place - $C 1,000. 

12. DRESS CODE: Business dress is required on presentation day. Business casual is requested at the November 11, 2019 reception the evening prior to the competition.

13. EXPENSES: All travel expenses including hotel, airline, and ground transportation are the sole responsibility of each team and/or sponsoring school.

14. VIDEO RECORDING: Video recording is NOT permitted during the preliminary round of presentations. The competition organizers will video record the final presentations only and will make those videos available after the competition.

15. CHANGES TO COMPETITION STRUCTURE. The structure of the preliminary round, number of teams who qualify to the final, and the expected prize structure may be changed depending on the number of participating teams.

16. Failure to comply with these regulations may result in team penalties or disqualification from this and future competitions. 

Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel 
838 Hamilton St, Vancouver, BC
V6B 6A2 +1.800.661.8870

Passports are required for entry.  The exception is for US citizens arriving by land, for whom a birth certificate and government issued photo ID will typically suffice. The latter does depend on the Canadian Border Services Agency officer's discretion. For citizens of all other countries, one MUST have a valid Canadian visa OR an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).  The eTA is an on-line application that costs about $C7

US citizens with US passport - no visa or eTA requirements

Non-US citizen who are lawful permanent residents of the US need an eTA and passport

Residents of other countries - whether one needs a visa or an eTA depends on the country of citizenship (passport issue).  For all EU countries, Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore only an eTA is necessary. 

For entry requirements by country see:   https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/entry-requirements-country.html 

To apply for an eTA see:  https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta/apply.html