Arbor Realty Trust Intern Wins Fannie Mae Future Housing Leaders Award

During her summer internship with Arbor as part of Fannie Mae‘s Future Housing Leaders program, Reagan Coats, a University of Pennsylvania student, was asked to write a capstone blog about her experience. Her blog, which answered the question, “How did Future Housing Leaders help support your on-the-job learning about the housing industry?” was selected as the winning entry!

“I am very appreciative to win the award,” Reagan said. “My writing is pretty straightforward. It gets the job done, but I wouldn’t consider myself a writer. I really just wanted to capture and share my positive experiences.”

The Arbor internship, offered through the Fannie Mae’s Future Housing Leaders program, promotes diversity in the housing industry by providing students with diverse backgrounds, a professional learning experience within the commercial mortgage industry. It allows current college students to gain career exposure and on-the-job experience, while providing Arbor with a pool of well-developed potential employees and more visibility with the next generation of talent. Selected candidates also get a better understanding of our company and business.

Reagan truly enjoyed her internship and said she was “grateful for all of the opportunities of the program…the coursework and the ability to connect with other students around the country.”

Share in Reagan’s experience, as she recounts what she gained from her internship below. We are sure you’ll agree, that her future is bright indeed!

“How did Future Housing Leaders help support your on-the-job learning about the housing industry?”

By Reagan Coats

Future Housing Leaders provided me with a necessary framework to support my on-the-job learning about the housing industry. The resources available were carefully curated to ensure that students were successful during every step of their internship. Throughout my internship at Arbor Realty Trust, I continued to engage with the content provided by Future Housing Leaders to enhance my overall internship experience.

Before my internship even began, Future Housing Leaders shared resources that made me think about how I could proactively prepare for my role. For example, Future Housing Leaders’ access to O’Reilly allowed me to take a course learning how to advance my skill level with Microsoft Excel. This Excel knowledge was particularly applicable in my internship when using workbooks to input and analyze sales and rental comparables.

These opportunities to develop technical knowledge continued throughout the course of the summer. At Arbor Realty Trust, the company’s focus is on multifamily properties. Through Future Housing Leaders, I was able to also learn about different asset classes by enrolling in the Introduction to Commercial Real Estate Course taught by the Mortgage Bankers Association. I found this course particularly interesting as I got the opportunity to formally learn about the different types of ownership structures that property owners can choose. At my internship, I began paying closer attention to the different entity types and structures borrowers used to own, operate, and manage multifamily properties.

I was also able to develop in a professional sense by engaging with the e-Learning Modules shared throughout the duration of my internship. My favorite resources focused on how to boost productivity throughout the day by learning how to tackle the right tasks at the right time. I learned that I should match my workload with my energy level, and I implemented this change during my internship. As a self-proclaimed “morning person,” I would take on my most challenging and thought-provoking work at the beginning of the day to match my energy. This helped me tremendously in improving my productivity.

Another component of the program that I appreciated, was getting the opportunity to interact with other students across the country who were also participating in the Future Housing Leaders program. The LinkedIn group allowed me to connect with other students who shared the same curiosity I did of learning more about the housing industry. This group was also beneficial in that I was able to see the different types of work my peers were doing, which helped me to understand the diverse careers options available within the housing industry.

Future Housing Leaders provided me with a solid foundation to help me begin my journey in the housing industry. Carefully curated resources and course options allowed me to grow my technical knowledge and develop professionally. In addition, connecting with my peers allowed me to see the many different types of careers available in the housing industry, and to think more deeply about how I can align my skills and interests for a future career in this industry.

From all of us at Arbor, congratulations to Reagan!