Best way to network into Real estate internships

I'm at Cornell Johnson MBA and it's the first week of classes. I'm interested in real estate investments/ RE PE/ and would ultimately like to do RE Development.

For recruiting it seems like I'll be on my own unless I use the hotel school and the the real estate program which won't get going till next week. I'd like to start networking asap. Real estate recruiting seems extremely unstructured. I plan to leverage the cornell real estate network but what's the best way to recruit for a summer internship since I probably will be initially emailing or calling cornell alums as opposed to meeting companies on campus. For those that have experience in the real estate world or have recruited successfully what do you recommend?

Also are there any skills or specific types of courses that you feel would help tremendously for a reit/repe/ or re dev internship/ position? I have some in mind but I want to hear some outside sources.

Thanks

2 Comments
 
Best Response

I just finished up a summer internship at a small mortgage REIT. My best advice for getting recruited is to network as much as possible. I know that sounds redundant but it truly is the only way that I know how to land a spot. The firm that I worked for drew on a network of contacts to find me and the other interns. I would suggest getting plugged in to the real estate markets of the cities that you would want to work in.

As for skills, I found financial modeling to be the most important one that I had to use all summer. Being able to build multiple levels and a debt waterfall are extremely important. Also Excel skills are needed, such as building am schedules and going through various property financials. Good luck!

 

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