Advice for 3 year underwriting analyst looking to move to development
Hello,
I have worked at a middle market debt brokerage shop for 3 years now. I have gotten good experience with the full deal process, from underwriting (excel), preparing an offering memorandum, marketing, and coordinating the closing process. I really would like to get into development, but I'm not sure where to start. I am on a strong team but the firm doesn't have the name brand recognition of say CBRE. I would love any advice for how to sell myself, network for a development analyst/associate role, and if anyone has knowledge about the mid-atlantic market, what firms would be best for my situation to keep an eye out for. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you.
It all comes down to networking. You need to meet as many developers as you can and express your interest.
I gotta say though, now may be a rough time to make the switch. Plenty of dev analysts and associates out there with experience in need of a job.
Thank you for the reply. Ya, I'm aware it's a very bad environment for developers. Do you have any recommendations for other buy side players that might be better to recruit with? I want to eventually do development, but regardless it is time for me to look for a new job.
Any buyside role would be a step in the right direction: acquisitions at a lifeco, REIT, or REPE firm (doesn’t have to be large). Asset management, even. It would allow you to get ownership experience.
Sometimes, a lot of times, the market leads you to your next job. There is no shame in that. And while in the moment it might seem like random occurrences, but looking back all the dots connected and it looks like a career path.
Do you ultimately want to be a developer or a development manager in a development company? If you want to be a developer, then there are multiple multi disciplinary things to learn: design, entitlements, finance, legal, construction, marketing, management, and many other business facets.
Work on these even if you don’t have the position as developer or development manager.
A major developer in Dallas told me this 17 years ago after I emailed him, how do I become you (I was an investment analyst at the time). Let’s just say 2008. After a crazy era of the GFC (underemployment), I started in multifamily development in late 2010 as the market bottomed out and coincidentally this was the first sector to recover on the West Coast. At the time, I would have taken any full time corporate job that paid benefits, even in accounting.
I look at development as a skillset, not necessarily who I’ve become.
Thank you for the reply! Sounds like you were in a similar position to me - although 2008 might have been just a bit worse than the current climate. I definitely hear you on the multifaceted nature of development. Do you have any advice for how I can hone those skills outside of a job? To answer your question, my dream would be to eventually do my own development deals as an entrepreneur, so I'd like my career now to help me towards that. What if anything do you think are the most important to learn now? I've been told by some in the industry that predevelopment/entitlement is a valuable skill right now. Sorry for the harassment!
I think just stay busy. You want to be an entrepreneur? You can start anytime, even while earning a paycheck. Collect a variety of experiences. You do underwriting now, best thing is to develop is your vision (how to spot opportunities) and start testing your ideas (next will lead to having conviction). Go on LoopNet. Drive around your city. Talk to landowners (look them up). Underwrite an assemblage, development doesn’t pencil? Tell me when will it? At what rent? What’s the path to control a city block? Tuck that idea away. Find another idea.
If you have imagination and are resourceful, you can eventually become a developer.
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