Looking to break into Commercial Real Estate with the end goal of REPE but have 0 professional CRE to date.
Previously an Equity Research Analyst in Asset Management. Not sure whats the best approach in making this happen but Real Estate isn't rocket science. Would love any advice on thinking about this transition and how to make it happen.
Many thanks in advance!
Hey man, was in your same shoes about a year ago. Has been an awesome decision thus far.
My background - a bit more junior as I was a research associate at a well known shop for about 3 years. Was turned off by how efficient the market was and was interested in RE so I made the switch.
First of all if you have the CFA that's a huge plus. Real estate people generally don't have it but respect it. Analytically, RE is much simpler than ER so your skill set is already there. The only thing you lack is RE experience obviously, but this is arguably easier to learn. The report writing in RE is similar so you will have a big leg up there. These are things you should stress. I would recommend bringing research reports to any interviews you have.
Learning CRE - get certified in ARGUS. It's stupid but for some reason this is a big hang up. Also, buy REFM or some other real estate modeling package and master it. Adventures in CRE also has some great resources. I had to do a real estate modeling test for my interview but I had memorized a format from one of these and banged it out pretty easily. Again, not rocket science but if you don't have direct experience it's hard to build these under pressure without experience.
CRE is a big field with a lot of different roles. I am an acquisitions associate at a developer which I've personally enjoyed because there is a big market research aspect but you also learn a lot about construction, design, and city processes. If you work at a real estate private equity shop you'll be a bit more focused on the research aspect. Development Associate and Acquisition Associate are two roles you can find plenty of on job sites.
Biggest thing is getting your foot in the door. Another buddy of mine also made the switch from ER to a development associate at brookfield by hunting people down on LinkedIn for coffee.
I'm inferring by the Analyst title that you may be a bit more senior so you may have to take a step down at first. If you wanted to lateral you may need to get MBA or MSRE.
In any case, feel free to PM me.
Wow, someone went straight into a development associate position from ER? That seems like a super rare scenario, but props to them...
Hey stay thirsty my friends, I know this thread is from a few years ago but I'm also trying to make a jump into CRE and have been networking a bunch but still haven't been successful. Can I dm you?
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