Professional Development Seminar: Finance 101 - For the Commercial Real Estate Professional During the Commercial Real Estate Finance 101 Professional Development Seminar in November, Tod McGrath a Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT and President of advisoRE, LLC walked attendees through financial jargon to help them better understand key terms used in today’s commercial real estate world. Seminar participants learned, among other topics, the meaning and calculation of present value and net present value, how to determine if cap rate is important, the definition of NOI (Net Operating Income), and the applicability of all these concepts to the buying and selling of assets.