Valuation or Development
Background on me: I have a bachelors and master's in real estate from a top program. I have a few years of internship experience in CRE. Need some help weighing two offers:
Full-time offer from a large national valuation firm. Comp isn't great, and I would be located in a very HCOL city. Pro's are I'd get great experience valuing multiple property types across the country. Con's are I'd have to get out of it as soon as possible, hopefully moving to dev/PE/asset management.Internship offer from a regional developer of healthcare properties. Goal is to move to full-time in 3 months, assuming I don't completely screw up. FT comp is higher than the valuation offer by about $10k. I've always wanted to be in development- it's the reason I'm getting my MSRE. There is supposed to be an enormous amount of development happening in senior housing in the next decade or so, and the group is growing quickly. The job is near my hometown in a very LCOL city. Only con I can think of is I don't know what my exit opps would be for this. I do see this as my ideal long-term career, but if I did want to get out, I'm not sure how great a regional development position on a small team looks on a resume.
If you want to work in development take the dev option. Valuation groups will not teach you anything about actual development and investment and seems that you want to leave Valuation asap anyways so why not join a group you would want to work for?
You can always leave from a dev shop to a dev shop in a better city in the future, although moving is always an uphill battle.
Make sure the dev guys are nice people. I have been fucked over by psychopaths in family offices.
I understand that it's scary to feel like you might make the wrong choice, but this isn't rocket science.
You want to work in development. Go work in development! Every developer you'll meet from this day on will value that experience FAR more than they would being in valuations, even if the asset classes are vastly different. Grinding out a bunch of bullshit valuations for 100 properties doesn't really do much for you - if it's the only option you've got for a paying job, it's nothing to sneer at, but I simply don't see why ANYONE thinks "hey, I have an offer to get into the part of the industry I see myself in long term, but if I take this other job maybe I'll be able to line up a job in a few years." You're already there! You don't need the stepping stone! And it pays better to boot
Agree with everything here 100% go with the internship - I’d add that development is generally soft right now, so they might be hedging a bit in a full time offer due to market outlook.
In a similar boat, what offer you ended up taking? Did the internship end up converting to a full time offer?
I ended up taking the dev internship. I absolutely made the right choice. Busted my ass for a few months and got a full-time offer recently. I knew I was taking a risk by not accepting the valuation offer that was full-time, but I saw it as betting on myself.
Really appreciate you sharing what happened, and congrats that it worked out. From what you mentioned - it sounds very similar to the offer I have (very lean team, full transparency from both sides, and they mentioned the goal is to convert). It'd be a dream role if it converts, so I'm hoping it will be a parallel to the outcome you got.
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