From what I can tell, a majority of brokers focus on one property type. For those of you in brokerage, how did you decide what property type to focus on?
I'm interested in a career in brokerage and am curious. I'm currently an analyst at an underwriting firm working with all property types. While I do have a preference, I can't necessarily sell why I'd prefer to work with a certain property type in an interview.
Are there certain skill sets or characteristics that determine which property type is more suitable for someone, in terms of brokerage? And would it be difficult to switch from one property type to another down the road? Any insight would be great!
Trending Content
| +52 | Leave brokerage to be GP | 12 | 2d | |
| +49 | New Comp Database - Google Form (Now with Data Validation) | 24 | 2d | |
| +24 | Seeking Career Guidance in Real Estate Development Post-Graduation | 3 | 3d | |
| +23 | Spreads over SOFR/UST | 5 | 19h | |
| +23 | Going out on your own | 4 | 2d | |
| +22 | REPE/Development GPA | 15 | 4d | |
| +21 | Real Estate = complicated + underpaid | 15 | 2d | |
| +20 | High achiever that doesn’t want to work weekends | 12 | 4h | |
| +17 | MSRE/MSRED with no RE experience; Naive to think I’ll land a job afterwards? | 4 | 6d | |
| +17 | Fisher Brothers | 6 | 2d |
Career Resources
First, disclaimer, I am not a broker, many broker friends and always curious why they specialize in what they specialize....
The number one answer I consistently get... "I got hired onto a retail/office/industrial/etc. team, so became that kind of specialist." In fact one of the most successful brokers I know personally very well (works in a secondary city for a CBRE/CW/JLL type shop) is an industrial specialist and he says it is strictly because that is the team that hired him out of college. He makes 7 figures some years and is a very well noted expert in industrial real estate in his region and he literally says it was just random luck of where he placed.
I think you can have an affinity for a property type... like retail brokers like retail (and partying, I've gone to ICSC Vegas more years than I can remember now), and some office brokers told me they like office buildings (go figure), but really think a lot of people get hired and just take the luck of the draw.
Know some brokers (capital markets and tenant rep) who switched over from private equity. They selected a particular asset class to specialize in because they know a ton of folks with money who are interested in leasing space or buying properties in that category.
Delectus ut accusamus et incidunt inventore. Non dolor facere tempora ut aut perspiciatis et. Iure odit quisquam omnis qui ut est ut. Quae enim modi aut voluptatem.
Exercitationem dolor rem sed molestiae voluptas laborum. Occaecati quia officiis labore reiciendis. Ut placeat ut id sit quidem ex modi. Ipsum rerum assumenda quo velit dicta a qui.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...