Where are you now versus where you thought you would be?

Like the title suggests, I'm curious to see what kind of path you had envisioned for yourself versus where you are now. I think it would be interesting to get some insight from the more seasoned guys, this way we can get an understanding for how spontenous the market and expected career paths can be.

For example how you ended up in your position (analyst, associate, partner, etc.), market (major metro, secondary, emerging), asset class (what you focus on now), division (AM, PE, development, etc.), so on and so forth after having a completely different career path.

 

state school -> middle market lending -> pe associate at a fund that operates and develops as well as raies discretionary funds

 

My Expected Path At One Point:

State School -> Market Analyst -> Broker -> MBA -> Development Associate

My Actual Path:

State school -> Market Analyst -> Broker -> Asset Manager -> Acquisitions Intern -> MRED Program -> (Probably Development Associate)

Real life was just a bit more of a winding road than a straight path

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
networkyournetworth:

CRE, why did you choose to go from AM at the manager position to acquisitions? Did you see yourself excelling more in acquisitions/development?

Since you had experience in acquisitions before your MRED program, do you find the program to be more networking or are you learning skills that you didn't have prior?

The company I did AM for was a small company so a lot of roles were combined. I was a hybrid property manager/asset manager. So, while I did a lot of work with budgets, forecasts, cap ex, financial reporting, and renovation oversight, I also managed the leasing and maintenance team, was the last call on tenant complaints, and on a busy day leased and marketed the apartments. If you've ever done multi-family property management, you will know what kind of job that is, and it is terrible. After almost a year of that, I applied to grad school and, once accepted, took the acquisitions position as a summer internship. The goal is definitely to get in on the development side, although I did enjoy my acquisitions work.

As far as the program goes for me, I have learned some things (my program is very big on all facets of development. I take classes in site planning, architecture, construction, law, etc. on top of finance and development) but yes it's definitely more networking-based. Still, it has opened me up to places that previously ignored me, so it seems to be worth it just for that.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I honestly thought that by this point (freshman year me) that I have acceptances to Baylor Dental or Harvard Dental school.

However, in a turn of events, I'm in SaaS sales. Go figure.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

Multifamily appraisal --> multifamily underwriting at a GSE --> multifamily loan asset management at a large bank --> branch manager of a mortgage bank --> commercial credit underwriter for a commercial bank --> associate (chief analyst) for a wealthy family of influential D.C. real estate developers and investors, now invited by the principals to invest my own equity into deals (specializing in residential for-sale for the deals I invest it).

As a 2007 college graduate, the first several years mainly consisted of scratching and clawing my way into finding and keeping a job in the industry. Other than myself, I know ZERO people aged 29-31 who are in multifamily or commercial real estate today in any real way--people in my generation were absolutely obliterated from the industry. So basically I was never able to think more than 1 step ahead in the early years--it was always, "How do I keep my job?"

Array
 

Rough freaking time to graduate college. I always felt bad for entry level guys who couldn't establish their careers in anywhere near a normal way because of the recession and for senior guys who had a good percentage of their net worth tied up in company stock like Lehman/Bear/ML and lost their jobs or were in funds that didn't do anything (or blew up) and their careers were set back a decade when they were >45. The guys in the middle of their careers tend to do ok but the top and bottom got shit on the worst.

 

Yeah, my boss is 38 or 39. He graduated during a real estate AND stock market boom. He worked on countless real estate deals, built a great resume, bought a house in 2001 for $200,000 and sold it in 2011 for something like $450,000, his tuition at Johns Hopkins real estate program in 2006 was like $20,000 for the whole program (I think it's well over $50,000 now), and he got married in 2010 when the real estate market was at the very bottom and he bought a house with his new wife (his home value is up like 35% since then), and he just refinanced his house last spring for a 4.5% rate right before rates started to rise. The guy was basically born under the right star. He intellectually understands how lucky he is, but I think in the back of his mind he thinks he earned it.

Array
 
Best Response

I graduated in the mid to late 90's at the beginning of the dotcom boom as the economy was or had recovered from the early 90's recession. RE was so fubar from the S&L fallout and general recession that there was only opportunity so everyone looked like a genius. Through a very non-replicable route I got into corp PE before the dotcom bust which allowed us to hoover up a lot of stuff at great prices and we could leverage the tits off of everything. Then in 06 I got my partners interested in real estate and luckily we were all busy and sat on it but I started talking to investors so when it all crashed in 07/08 we could open up the capital spigot and quickly put a team together to acquire distressed assets. I won't tell you how we/I accidentally got into an oilfield services co right before prices shot up and everything was fracking incredible (bad pun, apologies). I don't believe in luck-we make it- but I sometimes think it wasn't simply the right star but the three Magi visited my non-virginal mother.

 

I'm in the same boat:

Graduated Dec 2006. Commercial Appraisal -> Portfolio Surveillance at a servicer -> Internal valuation for distressed debt -> Debt AM at life co -> acquisitions at life co fund

I'm also the only 30 year old among the 200 ish people at my firm. There are a few 26/27 and then a bunch of 33/34. Most of the 33/34 are career switching MBAs though. So they really didn't work through the recession - they learned through it.

 

I graduated 2012. Worked for BB in CRE lending group for 2 years and met the right people along the way. Jumped over to the PE side as an associate focusing on acquisitions and development in primary markets. Co-invest and get granted carry on every deal. Going forward? Keep crushing deals for the partners and investors and eventually would like to start a shop to craft deals for the network I have built along the way. Simply put: luck is where preparation meets opportunity. More than happy to answer questions. Best of luck.

 

Graduated undergrad in 2012 with an internship in CRE dev, 1 year in corporate dev/strategy for a manufacturing company, 2 years in tenant rep brokerage, recently hired as a Director for a large national developer.

Networking is everything. I planted the seeds for my current job while in undergrad- i.e. I knocked down the door of the president of the company I'm now at and stayed in touch with him.

 

I'm somewhat in the same boat as you, 1 year out of undergrad doing acquisitions for a smaller CRE Development shop. I'd eventually like to make it to the big boys.

What was your strategy to stay in touch? Occasional emails about your transitioning between jobs? The standard holiday emails? Did the President just take a liking to you?

 

The short answer is the real estate world is very tight knit. If you work hard and are persistent you get people's attention.

The long answer is I stayed on his radar in several ways, some hard work and persistence and some happenstance.

I met with him for the first time when I was looking to get back into dev from corporate strat and he basically told me what I needed to do to get a job in development--2 years of brokerage.

A couple months after my first meeting with him, I was fortunate enough to convince the top producing tenant rep team in my market to give me a job. That team did a lot of BTS/lease deals with the shop that I'm at now. I had no idea that would be the case when I was hired but I'm sure it was a factor.

I would also run into him/see him downtown and would make it a point to say 'hi' and have a little bit of a convo with him. Probably 2-3 times a year.

I think I sent him simple holiday cards too, but can't remember for certain.

A few other things that played in my favor.

First, in response to you asking if he took a liking to me, I would say yes. I think he sees a little of himself in me - we both came from blue collar families and want more than what we grew up with. Although he's never directly admitted to it or to helping me land the job I have now (likely for political reasons,) I'm sure he had nothing but good things to say to the people who made the hiring decision.

I left enough of a mark on him that he invited me to interview for a similar position two years ago (6-12 months after first meeting with him). I killed the testing (personality and GMAT-style pre employment) but I didn't get the job. It was mostly due to lack of fit with a particular senior developer. However, The pres was involved in that process, which took about 6 mos. and equated to lot of face time.

My test scores from the first interview kept me on file as a qualified candidate. That coupled with staying in touch led to me being invited back to interview for the job I have now.

Didn't mean the hj the thread. Hope that helps. Feel free to PM with more questions.

 

Expected Path:

Non-Target --> Asset Management/Investment Research/Trading --> MBA (age 25-27) --> Investment Banking/Equity Research

Actual Path:

Non-Target --> Financial Crises --> Prop Trading (age 23) --> Commerical Banking Back Office (age 23) --> Company one of Morningstar/Factset/Bloomerg + MSF (age 24) + CFA Level I (age 26) --> Hedge Fund Admin (age 27) +CFA Level 2 (age 27) --> CFA Level III Candidate + Asset Management (age 28).

Different than expected. Biggest route change was doing PT MSF + Working + CFA > FT MBA to IB. Couldn't be happier. Focused on quant-equity/index construction for 500B+ AM.

 

Glad you asked, I've been looking for a place to vent. Came from a great family in the North, but apparently not really because I don't know who my Mom is. Dad hooked up with girl on a work trip so the matriarch basically kicked me out to this SHITTY life-long internship guarding some wall.

Weather sucks, there is a strict abstinence rule (WTF) and coworkers are literally dying on ranging patrols.

Comp/hours = terrible. The other guys on my team, who didn't even come from non-targets, won't get off my fucking back.

-JS

Fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of run. - Kipling
 

I have lost both of my parents due to a divorce. Haven't seen my dad in 4 years, my mother wants an argument every time we talk she wants an argument/complains about money so I don't call her. She's lost her mind. I basically have my granny and siblings.

Greed is Good!
 

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