Real Estate Roles at a HF

Hi WSO,

Originally posted this in the RE forum but moving it to the HF forum.

I'm curious as to what, if any, potential HF career paths are out there involving real estate securities (REITs, ROCs) for somebody with my background. For example, research roles covering REITs and other real estate operating companies at L/S or long only funds.

I will be entering a Master in Finance program at a well-regarded European business school (think ESADE, IE Business School, St. Gallen level) in the spring. I have ~2 years of experience at mid-sized REIT in a jack of all trades financial analyst role. My job entails creating internal KPI reports covering leasing, rental revenue, occupancy and various forecasts for executive management, preparing IR materials, and numerous treasury duties such as monitoring the REIT's liquidity levels and initiating borrowing as required. I deal with all areas/teams of the REIT (development, acquisitions/dispositions, leasing & ops, accounting etc)

Additionally, I come from a non-target undergrad and have cleared level 1 of the CFA (writing level 2 this spring) if that helps any.

Ultimately, I'm much more passionate about the public markets and investing than what I am doing in my current role. I'd love to eventually move to a public markets investment role and any advice on how to position myself to make this jump would be awesome. Thanks guys.