Advice/Tips to get into REPE?

I am a first year analyst at a small/mid-size commercial developer right outside Philadelphia. Currently, I am on a small acquisitions team and my responsibilities include running excel models, ARGUS models, preparing equity memorandum, observing due diligence process, reviewing leases, etc. for projects upwards of $30MM. I am unsure of what field I want to pursue, but I do enjoy the finance side of my job (i.e., loans, financial modeling, cash flow analysis, etc.) I do not like the development aspect because I'm not interested in project management/construction management. Based on these interests, I believe that I would enjoy working at a REPE, a more macro-oriented developer (i.e, Related, Tishman Speyer, Trammell Crow, etc.) or a RE startup (i.e., Fundrise, RealtyShares, CADRE).

I graduated from a non-target state school with a 2.94 GPA in Economics and Business Administration. I was involved in clubs and organizations on campus and logged hundreds of volunteer/community service/community outreach hours. I was active in my fraternity and served on the e-board. I wish I had done better academically, but I allowed my personal problems to distract me from academic success.

I am going through an ARGUS training program this year and have taken on various RE excel modeling courses to increase my skillset. Am also planning on teaching myself Javascript & SQL as it would greatly improve my resume when it comes to crowdfunded RE platforms.

Any advice on what I should do?

7 Comments
 
"yjain" Based on these interests, I believe that I would enjoy working at a REPE, a more macro-oriented developer (i.e, Related, Tishman Speyer, Trammell Crow, etc.) or a RE startup (i.e., Fundrise, RealtyShares, CADRE).

Any advice on what I should do?

  1. It sounds like you have a pretty applicable job already so make sure you do not get too wrapped up in "the grass is greener"
  2. You mentioned 3 different paths you're interested in going. If I was interviewing you, I would want to know that you had a clear understanding of why you wanted to work for me, and why you would be dedicated to the position I was hiring you for. If I was doing a good job interviewing you, I would be able to tell how passionate you were about the position I was hiring for. It is good that you have three different things you are excited about. I would recommend narrowing it down further. Talk to people in the roles, figure out what it is really like, know what you want to get out of it, the interviews will be a cake walk at that point.
 

Thank you for this insight. I think I am pulled in different directions because I am just starting my career and haven't truly figured out what I like yet - which is perfectly okay. To move forward, however, I will start talking to people in different roles at various firms to learn about their day-to-day responsibilities and use that information to hone in on the path that I think I would be the most passionate about. Cheers.

 

Not sure why you think the nitty gritty of development is any different at Related/Tishman/Crow. Just because you're building bigger buildings doesn't mean you don't have to go through the permitting process or manage GCs. If anything all of that shit becomes more stressful.

 

Its definitely a way different experience. Look at the Life at Megadevelopers thread. Related/Tishman etc development guys are more finance oriented compared to smaller shops where you are jack of all trades, work on whatever needed. (generally speaking of course)

 

The role I currently have is certainly more jack of all trades - some days, I'm only running models and developing pro formas, other days I'm reviewing contracts and performing due diligence on new investment opportunities. I think I would prefer to have a job that allowed me to focus on a singular task.

 
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