Career Path: Commercial RE Broker or Credit Analyst
Hey everyone,
Last week I posted a topic about how I was working at a commercial real estate firm as an intern for the past year and I was not sure how much longer I should stay with them. Well, that firm offered me a position as a broker (or salesperson). 100% commission, 60/40 Split. I would get 5-10% commission on their deals that I work on (number crunching, marketing, design work, etc basically the stuff I did during the internship)
Hopefully this does not sound like bitching butttt....
Pros and cons.... I am 22 years old and if the people who bought commercial real estate were in their 20s or early 30s then I would have a solid network of contacts however thats not the case. I would have to start a network from almost scratch. I dont doubt my ability with people, however I do worry that my age and inexperience will present a few issues starting out. I DO NOT WANT TO STARVE, I GOT BILLZZZ TO PAY. Also, I am not sure that this city is where I want to 'settle down' and I worry that once I start here I will be stuck here and not willing to move later. But, that being said a broker job at 22 seems like a solid gig.
I was also offered a credit analyst job at a medium size bank.
If I am planning on moving from my current city eventually (3 - 5ish years ideally), and want to be marketable for A) Business school or B) moving into a new job in either banking or commercial RE in the city I would like to 'settle down in', what career option do you guys think would be better? Any advice?
Thanks
You haven't really told us your goals.......
Why mba? What do you want to do after MBA?
Give us something to work with.
I am currently in Atlanta. I would like to leave here eventually in 3-5 years and ideally be in commercial real estate (investment, development, or brokerage if I can make enough money) in my new city .
Business school so I can get a masters or mba and mainly for networking.
If I am looking for a job in CRE, what position would be ideal for exit ops? Brokerage or Credit Analyst.
I feel like I can spin the credit analyst position for CRE, and it also provides a nice steady income. I can also use the position to go into another area of banking as a fall back
Brokerage on the other hand can be very lucrative and I cannot tell you any one I have met that is as young as me in brokerage. The problem with this is I am not sure if this would be marketable
that depends. you might be starving for a while as a cre broker, but it could be much more lucrative.
what city are you in?
every broker starts from the bottom. the good ones can make a ton of money. but with that said, you can't have any doubts when you are going into the business. you really have to be 110% committed in order to make it work...
Don't know if this is the norm, but a classmate at business school was a commercial RE broker for a top firm in NYC. Post-MBA he landed in the real estate group of a financial services company. He said he made just as much or more money when he was a broker and enjoyed the work much more
_
I had a friend who worked for a large firm (in the detroit area) a few yrs back. he would go months without a paycheck and then when a deal closed, he would of course get a decent commission check...but this had to tidy him over until his next deal.
how many of the firm's deals will you get to normally work on? though the position is 100% commission, if there is a steady flow of business that you get to work on, at least it will be a steady income stream while you work on your deals.
sry its late and im a lil drunk so i might not make sense. I work at a small developer right now, and i would take the credit analyst job. More meaningful analysis,steadier cash flow, and easier for you to go to a new place with the skills you pick up - you will learn about RE from a lender's perspective and that is important for another brokerage, a developer, REIT or w/e. But the brokerage job is probably more enjoyable because you are probably your own boss, lots of freedom, and you are entertaining clients sometimes instead of being stuck in an office.
Try to predict the potential deal flow. If you have a bunch of seniors and hasnt closed any deals recently, you can do the math on how much (little) commission you will get personally. If you do well w the brokerage, like you said you will be stuck in atlanta because you are making money off of your local network. The landlords who let you sell their bldgs will not likely be there to give you business in LA. Also I don't know what kind network your current firm has or what kind of deals it puts out or how professional the firm is, but i think these are all important.
Personally I can't stand the smaller brokerages that put out useless 50pg OMs with 30 pages of scanned newspaper articles to show how great an area is, when there isnt even a realistic number for net sqft or expenses. To make big deals you have to work with with bigger players, people/funds/firms that are more analytically driven. So you need the skill set to be able to provide and showcase the information these people want, answer all their questions to convince them what you are selling is a sound investment, and at the same time make seller happy. You can be as outgoing as possible, but if your analysis is not up to par, nobody will do deals w you. i guess im tring to say smaller brokerages usually suck.
Hey just wanted to follow up here- what did you end up doing? Credit analyst or broker? I am 2 years into an analyst program and am looking to jump to CRE brokerage in NYC.
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