5 Silly Beginner Questions
Hi
As a brief into, I’m a first year Mathematics/CS student at Oxbridge. I have an interest in interior design and personal house development, and found REPE to be the closest area in high finance.
I have a few questions which may seem obvious, but I would appreciate any support on ANY of these. Thanks!
1) I have a strong background in data science - how much a) financial modelling and b) data science is used or expected to be used in the future.
As an example, I have seen lots of Secondary PE firms starting to integrate data science into their strategies, and seeing the macro ties in RE, I’m wondering if similar strategies are being implemented.
2) What is the impact of the higher rates that everyone is anticipating moving forward? Is it simply higher rate —> more expensive borrowing —> more expensive returns —> bad for business?
3) How important is pedigree? I love managing relationships and talking to people, but to what extent does brand name matter when a) climbing the ladder b) doing your own deals?
Is doing a two-year stint at Blackstone / Ares / Goldman RE a ‘nice to have’ or requirement?
4) How important is knowing a non-English language?
5) What regions are looking prosperous in the future? I’m guessing (still) ME and some regions of India.
Thank you so much!
1. Financial modeling is used every day, but generally speaking it is not very sophisticated today and data science won't tie in. However, from a data science perspective it will be leveraged heavily going into the future. Big institutions are already all over integrating AI, big data, and every other tech buzzword into their repertoire. Its interesting because the industry we are in is private by nature with limited access to information, so it has been cool to see how people are still finding ways to leverage what is out there.
That being said, its not a skill set the investments team will be using and generally will be in-house Research/Strategy or IT teams that apply those skills and feed their findings to the deal teams.
2. Correct - tougher to get deals done in the current high rate environment. Eventually there will be some cuts, how much nobody knows, and we'll settle into a new normal. Right now we're in a period of price correction where some sellers are still resisting the fact their properties aren't worth what they were two years ago.
3. Nice to have, not a requirement unless your only goal is rise through the ranks at Blackstone.
4. Depends on market - not very to not at all in North America. In Europe/APAC probably more so.
5. Not my area of expertise as I am heavily focused domestically, but from an emerging markets perspective it is certainly still APAC region but geopolitical uncertainty has caused pullbacks in China/India in recent years. South America also seeing a surge in certain markets.
Thank you so much! I don’t think you understand how much I appreciate this.
If possible, I would like to expand my questions a bit:
1) Will my background in Data Science be of any use at all in an investment role?
3) In terms of skills acquired / wanting to self-fund deals, would a MM or MF be better starting out (aka exposure vs brand)
4) I’m in the UK - I have a European passport (and family abroad), but cannot speak any other languages. Is it worth picking up a language now or is it too late / would I be better off focusing on other skills?
Thanks again!
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