Advice Needed: Starting out as an Analyst in Development
Hi everyone,
Starting out at a major developer this fall (Hines/TS/Related/Greystar) on the investment team. Interested to hear your experiences and any advice on building personal brand equity early on.
Also would be great to hear the checks you use in models (Sources = Uses, Rent/Revenue Reconciliation etc). Understand the learning curve is steep, would be nice to have these in place as an additional safeguard while I ramp up.
Any book recommendations are also greatly welcome. So far I have enjoyed "User Friendly" by Cliff Kuang and Poorvu's The Real Estate Game.
Starting out at a major developer is an exciting opportunity! Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some key pieces of advice to help you build your personal brand equity and excel early on:
Building Personal Brand Equity
Modeling Checks
To safeguard your work and ensure accuracy, here are some essential checks: - Sources = Uses: Always ensure that your sources of funds match the uses in your models. - Rent/Revenue Reconciliation: Cross-check your rent roll assumptions with projected revenues to ensure consistency. - IRR/NPV Sensitivity: Run sensitivity analyses to understand how changes in key assumptions impact your returns. - Error Traps: Use Excel error-checking tools or set up conditional formatting to flag anomalies. - Scenario Analysis: Build scenarios (base, upside, downside) to stress-test your assumptions.
Book Recommendations
Here are some highly recommended reads for someone starting in real estate development: 1. "The Real Estate Game" by William Poorvu: A classic that provides a comprehensive overview of real estate investing and development. 2. "User Friendly" by Cliff Kuang: While not specific to real estate, it offers insights into design thinking and user-centric approaches, which can be valuable in development. 3. "More Money Than God" by Sebastian Mallaby: A great primer on the hedge fund industry, which can provide insights into investment strategies. 4. "Financial Shenanigans" by Howard Schilit: For a deeper understanding of accounting and financial analysis.
Final Tip
The learning curve may be steep, but consistent effort and a willingness to learn will pay off. Engage with your team, seek feedback, and don't hesitate to ask for help when needed. Good luck with your new role!
Sources: Starting in Real Estate Development, Q&A: Analyst --> Associate at a VC / Growth Equity Firm, Reading List for the Incoming Analyst, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/equity-research/advice-for-equity-research-associates-part-i?customgpt=1, Advice from an ex-IB MD - on how to make VP
Peter Linneman's "Real Estate Finance: Risks and Opportunities" has everything in there that you would ever need to know for CRE, but can be a little technical/granular at times. For lighter reads I enjoy Sam Zell's "Am I being Too Subtle?" and Adam Piore's "The New Kings of New York" - both good reads about major development players and you can learn from what they did right and wrong. Good inspiration for if you want to go out on your own down the road.
If you are starting off at a major developer like one of the those you listed above, your firm will have their own in-house model templates for mixed-use/multi/retail development underwriting that you will be using as a base for each underwriting model. I would focus initially on getting familiar with those templates and understanding how all the assumptions and inputs tie to your cash flow and outputs. This will just take time and lots of reps. Try to get good at using hotkey (alt) shortcuts in excel and PowerPoint - this will help you model and churn out deliverables quicker.
Buy a moleskin notebook and write down every task you need to finish daily, with unfinished tasks getting carried over to the next day's page. Helps make sure you're always on top of your open action items - an old boss I had as an intern did this, was one of the most helpful things I ever picked up. Get into the habit of mastering your outlook calendar too so you never miss any deadlines/meetings/maturity dates, will help you stay organized so nothing slips through the cracks.
Biggest thing IMO though is just having a positive attitude each day (I know this is cliche, but it's true). Be coachable and someone that your team enjoys working with. You don't have to be the best at excel, but you need to build social capital with your colleagues - these people can help mentor you, vouch for that bonus/promotion, and be valuable for your network in the future as the CRE industry is pretty small at the institutional level. It might seem trivial, but always go to the team happy hour/drinks after work, grab lunch at least once a week with a coworker, ask how their weekend was, etc. When my team was hiring for our analyst last year, the most important thing to us was fit and coachability - there's so many qualified applicants these days on paper. Being someone people want to work with - and more importantly, willing to go to bat for - is just as if not more important for your career than any of the technical stuff, that will just come with time.
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