Hello everyone-
I am currently an associate on a valuation team at one of the big shops (JLL/CBRE/CW type beat) in a major northeast metro.
Im about a year in and i essentially write appraisals all day- all property types.
As you might imagine- i am deeply curious on what my exit opportunities are at this point. If anyones heard of the ACRE accelerator im going through that now. Ive taken a few classes during my tenure (direct cap, dcf, sales comp) ect.
If it means anything, i do not enjoy sitting at a desk all day, and in appraisal, you are not making money unless you are physically sitting at your desk writing reports.
Yeah appraisal sucks ass. Never met another appraiser that didn't secretly wish they could find another way to make 100k.
In a major market, making $100k as a CG appraiser is legitimately not difficult. If you only had to make $100k a year and be set for life, it really wouldn't be that bad of a career for a lot of people. But, if your goal is to consistently make double, triple or quadruple that? Yeah - then it definitely sucks.
Some senior guys are in the 800K-1M range but appraise about 14 hours a day every day.
I moved to the lending side after about a year in an appraisal role.
Sounds like the best (maybe easiest) lateral would be to the capital markets team at one of the big brokerage shops. Tough hiring market right now but probably best to beef up your resume with modeling courses, maybe ARGUS. Just network your balls off with brokers.
thanks man
Lateral internally or alternatively roles at public REITs are probably your best bet. REITs obviously have significant reporting requirements and because of that they like to have people with excellent valuation expertise on their teams.
Good call there. I have been told interviewing to just move internally but it is so much harder than it is made out to be.
Know some folks who had a few years in appraisal before moving to repe am roles at mid-size shops. If that’s something you’re interested in, it sounded like it was a relatively easy switch especially if you’re early in career. However it also sounded like they took an initial paycut or stepdown in role since the responsibilities are different.
One comment i heard about a person interviewing for a repe analyst role that started off in appraisal (and didn’t get the job) was that they were great at underwriting/hard skills but they didn’t have their own strong opinions on strategy/ markets. So besides the obvious tasks of updating resume, networking, modeling practice, etc., that might be something to think about.
My path was appraisal > servicing > life co > debt fund.
You really just have to decide what you are looking for and go get it/sell yourself. There are plenty of people that will give you a shot, but up to you to be impressive/worthy of the chance.
^
I think this is well said. Appraisal will teach the fundamentals of how the numbers work. I truly believe you can jump to just about any position in CRE from this background and it’s a great one to have. I think the real reason it may be more challenging for others is because many appraisers tend to not be “outgoing/salesy” people and may find it hard to sell themselves in interviews.
At the end of the day, it’s all about convincing someone you’re right for the job. If you truly want a position in this space and have a track record of knowledge, you should be able to find something.
Worked in appraisal for about a year, and at my 10-month mark I knew it was time to start fishing for a new opportunity. I ended up on the brokerage side, which has given me great exposure to a new part of the industry. The market is not the best right now, so you must sell yourself in the best way possible. One thing I did was highlight interesting appraisals we worked on, then I went into talking about my modeling skills, knowledge of the industry, etc. I would begin to start hunting now, 3 years or more in appraisal is only going to make it more difficult to make the jump.
I worked in valuation advisory for about 2 years before leaving to work in AM at a GP investor in my market.
Saw countless people exit my old valuations company to Acq/AM, and a fair amount to some notable firms.
I will say I haven’t seen many go into development, not sure if preference or just greater barriers to entry coming from valuations.
How did you get into appraisals? Do you need a license for it? I've been interested in breaking into it but I'm an analyst.
I did 2 years in appraisal straight out of school then made the jump to acquisitions. Took a sizable paycut but much happier now.
I started my career in appraisal and moved to an acquisitions role after 2 years.
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