Where do you work (boutique or big shop)? What was your academic background before the job? What did you do to get the job/what was your route? What is your day-to-day like? What is your pay and hours? Would you recommend this job as a first job in CRE? If you are no longer doing appraisals, what are you doing now? Thanks in advance

Boutique Shop in Midwest, but had clients nationally. Real Estate Finance Major at non-target UG I had an internship in valuations and got an offer at one of the competitors when I graduated. The day to day was 9-10 hours of pulling comps, market research, modeling, and writing the damn report (100+ pages, even with template). I second what Swimtexan said. Straight out of undergrad so $48k base only for 50-60 hour weeks. I stayed for 8 months before getting recruited to another firm. Great first job to learn the industry and the ground work/levels of commercial real estate.

Appraiser questions

Where do you work (boutique or big shop)?
What was your academic background before the job?
What did you do to get the job/what was your route?
What is your day-to-day like?
What is your pay and hours?
Would you recommend this job as a first job in CRE?
If you are no longer doing appraisals, what are you doing now?

Thanks in advance

106 WSO Academy Real Estate Session Reviews: 4.91/5

Class of '29 Sep 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Career Roadmap (optional)

“Nick was extremely informative and gave me a lot of solid and practical advice. He answered all of my questions clearly and thoughtfully. I really appreciated that he gave me an actionable plan for how to approach recruiting and developing my career in general. He was very open about sharing his own experiences. He also gave me helpful perspective on how to differentiate myself during the recruiting process and make my conversations with professionals more meaningful. I feel like I have a clearer understanding of what I should focus on and concrete next steps. This was overall a helpful and valuable conversation. ”

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Mock Interview

“Nick was fantastic. He didn’t just glance at my resume and give me generic advice—he explained exactly why it wasn’t telling the story I wanted it to tell, then helped me figure out how to fix it. He pushed me to be more intentional about how I talk about my experience and gave me concrete steps to prepare for interviews, from tailoring my resume to practicing financial modeling. I also appreciated how candid he was. When I asked about real estate capital markets versus sales and trading, he gave me his honest opinion while being clear about his own perspective. He shared interview guides, answered all my questions, and offered to do a more detailed mock interview if I move forward with JLL. I left with a lot of work to do, but also a much clearer idea of how to do it. I’d absolutely recommend talking with Nick.”

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4 Comments

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Swimtexan

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8y

CBRE
Service Academy (US Naval Academy)
Former Naval Officer, selected for summer internship at CBRE and networked into a full time position with Valuation and Advisory Services
12+ Hours of Comps/Modelling/ARGUS while sitting at the computer
Salary + Bonus - Made 122K first year (60K was my salary with % based monthly bonus)
Best first job to "cut your teeth" and then breakout if necessary

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Authored by: Certified Real Estate Professional - 2nd Year AssociateCertified Real Estate Pro

scshtx

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8y

"Swimtexan" * CBRE * Service Academy (US Naval Academy) * Former Naval Officer, selected for summer internship at CBRE and networked into a full time position with Valuation and Advisory Services * 12+ Hours of Comps/Modelling/ARGUS while sitting at the computer * Salary + Bonus - Made 122K first year (60K was my salary with % based monthly bonus) * Best first job to "cut your teeth" and then breakout if necessary

Great, thank you for your response. DM'd you.

Anyone else?

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The Diplomats

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Authored by: Certified Real Estate Professional - 3rd+ Year AssociateCertified Real Estate Pro

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