Acquisitions at a top institutional investor or REIB?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and would love some input. Would it be better to stick with working for a large institutional investor (think Hines, PGIM, Invesco) or try to jump to a top REIB group (and is this possible from a shop like this)? Ultimately would like to work at a top MF one day before starting my own shop. Obviously, the work being done would be different in REIB, but I do think it would be cool to get some experience on the entity level as opposed to the asset level. Hours will be worse and pay will be better in REIB, but if my ultimate goal is a transactional role at a top MF, is it worth it?
Hours and culture will be worse in IB but that will just prep you for life working at a MF. Jump is possible either way, REPE funds are less strict than traditional PE funds about where they recruit.
That said, if your actual ultimate goal is to open your own shop I would not advise going into IB. Working at large institutions does not prepare you at all to be an entrepreneur, in my opinion.
Do you think it would teach someone a level of RE knowledge and sophistication that would be invaluable as an entrepreneur and that couldn't be learned at, say, a start-up REPE fund?
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I was referring to the "large institutions" part of his post. My question was regarding the difference in experience between something like a MF REPE (to which IB is apparently an exit op) and a start-up REPE.
Generally, the smaller the shop (or team) the more experience you get which will help in a variety of ways. Take this with a grain of salt because I've never worked in REPE or REIB, but having worked on small teams I can tell you that you are forced to get into the weeds on things which will be invaluable when trying to be entrepreneurial. A few examples:
When I worked in construction right out of college it was just me and my boss on the PM side, we were building an $85m office building and I was responsible for a ton of work and it was a lot all at once. But, I ended up learning a ton, I learned how to read all sorts of drawings, how to manage subs, interact with developers and architects, sweet-talk government employees, etc., meanwhile my peers who went to work for larger GCs and on larger projects saw a much smaller slice of the construction project and didn't have the same access or learning opportunities I had. I knew some Project Engineers (bottom of the totem pole in construction) who covered only 3 or 4 trades, never interacted with the architect/developer, and just spent their entire first two years processing RFIs and submittals. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the OAC meeting every week, managing all the MEP and finish subs, and managed the draw/finances of the project.
When I moved to development, it was the same story. Working for a small company means you are doing a lot of the legwork yourself, which is how it will work when you are on your own. At my last company (~35 employees) I had to get deeply involved with the lenders when getting refis and construction loans, regularly meet with government employees and design boards, final punch units myself, etc. At my current company (a large national developer), I have a finance team that handles all of the loan closings for me, a whole QC division that manages punch, teams of lawyers and consultants who regularly lobby the government on our behalf, etc. If you want to be an entrepreneur you can make it work like the latter example, but you'll be spending money out your nose and won't get any deals to pencil.
To wrap up, while working at a MF REPE will provide similar exposure to basic real estate/legal/financing concepts as a smaller shop, your actual experience and first-hand knowledge will vary significantly.
I think the level of "sophistication" needed to be a successful real estate entrepreneur is vastly overestimated on these forums.
To put it frankly, somebody who spent 10 years working at a regional developer or LMM REPE shop that got to wear a million hats and get their hands on every aspect of a deal is going to be 1000000x more prepared to go out on their own than somebody who worked in REIB or at a MF that is more financially sophisticated and has a better understanding of macro trends, but has no idea how to actually operate real estate.
Don’t do IB, even if it’s at Goldman or PJT. Working in REIB is only worth it if you go straight into REIB out of college and then leave for a top REPE fund after 1-2 years. This assumes your goal is to work at a mega fund.
Don’t feel like going into details, but i worked in IB and interviewed with RE mega funds so I know their stance on this.
Do you think that your REIB experience gave you a leg up against your peers when recruiting for the mega funds? Or would a place like Hines, PGIM, Invesco carry the same weight to recruiters/interviewers?
Did you read my comment?
As someone who started in IB, fully agree with this. IB is only useful earlier on in your career. You learn professionalism and do a tiny bit of analysis. Afterwards, you’ll struggle to find someone to take a chance on you since you just don’t have the relevant experience.
I had a thread on moving to REIB instead of staying on the buyside and was told it's a bad idea which people are echoing here.
Getting into REGL IB | Wall Street Oasis
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