Wise advice needed real estate/securitisation

Yes absolutely. This is my 2 cents from observing European exits btw, so forgive the disorganised thoughts:

Did a lending seat which combined securitisation and vanilla real estate financing (new acquisitions, refinancings, capex projects, but no pure construction exposure - part of the bank's mandate) at a non top-3 BB. Absolutely nobody exited, bar one dude who went to a small RE Debt fund (nothing of the likes of MF like BX, KKR, APO). No knowledge of how strong BofA is btw, so hence my general inclination towards top 3 BB.

By RE Financing I am absolutely referring to seats that give some form of more complex financing exposure (i.e., larger banks that don't do ordinary investment-grade stuff, participating in higher LTV, margin, structured deals. Maybe even with a corporate angle, and indeed with securitisation as one of its mandates may be useful - probably more so in the States than Europe since the CMBS market is much leaner here in Europe / London.)

I can speak empirically that GS RE Financing exits to the top debt funds without a doubt, although many choose to goto RE Capital Markets seats at MF's (probably lifestyle reasons). These type of seats, JPM included, exit to your typical Ares, KKR, Blackstone debt strategies, and know personally of a person who went to a top REPE as well. 

Will caveat I have seen JPM / GS more prominent on the financing exits side since they are larger balance sheet institutions. No clue on MS although I understand RE IB franchise is very strong. In general, the lack of corporate exposure is not going to kill your exits, if you're lucky you may get debt fund exits at a stronger, more versatile lender i.e., JPM / GS, but very low chances at equity since you're purely lending against an asset - no corporate level / acquisition exposure. 

It's a great starting point into the RE asset class imo but I would throw in all my eggs to try move to RE IB or pivot to a top 3 seat as mentioned. The difference is more stark in the RE world since the top 3 RE lenders don't do corp-banking style stuff as you say. This is more relegated to the Citi / UBS type banks with large balance sheet but tiny risk appetite, profiting low margin on volume and relationship only. Indeed, sponsor work is not a priority for such banks, hence why my inclination towards top 3 which do hairier securitisations, ballsier lending mandates with whole loan underwriting capacity, and a search for yield which sets you up nicely for a place like BREDS etc. 

Since your in the states, I'm sure the prominence of the CMBS market might actually make use of that securitisation angle - but as you probably know this is not really stuff REPE / debt funds look at, with exception to maybe listed real estate players - but that's really a dime a dozen in terms of opportunities. Here in the Europe market, the traditional guys getting MF REPE come from either top RE / generalist IB, or simply other REPE UG programs (GS REPE, MS REI, Ares REPE, BX BREP Analyst program etc.) I'd personally advise you move out of this financing space - it is super pigeonholy regardless of geography and doesn't set you up well if not top-3 BB (even if that case, the guys on the RE IB of top 3 get way better exit scope simply because they actually do corporate / non-pure financing deals). 

Just my 2c