Can I leave RE?
Hey everyone,
Now I'm not doing this to sound ungrateful, because I know I'm in a great spot given the current environment. I'm an analyst at a top REIB and have worked on some of the largest/best transactions in my region; while I thought that real estate was what I wanted to do out of college, I'm not sure if I see myself in it long term.
I'm very happy with the skills I've developed and deals I've been able to work on, but want to try and leave the industry entirely. I know that real estate specifically is seen as something that tends to put a label on you, but do you think it is possible to exit to another industry after being in real estate for ~2 years? Has anyone seen this happen?
Would appreciate some advice - thanks!
Are you leaving because the industry no longer interests you, or because of dissatisfaction with your current job?
Working in an acquisitions, investments or development role is much different in terms of work content and WLB compared to working in a real estate coverage group at an investment bank. Make sure it's because you're burned out on the industry, and not IB.
After two years, most people exit REIB to the buyside - I'd take this route unless you are absolutely done with real estate as a whole. It would be much easier to market yourself as wanting to become a generalist in PE after working at a REPE than a hard pivot that might require going back to school/CFA if you are trying to stay in finance.
do you think that you could actually move from REPE to generalist corporate PE? I don't think I've ever seen that switch happen
Yes. When I was earlier in my career I had multiple offers to move from development to corporate PE when I was thinking about leaving the CRE world. It's especially easy if you work for a company that has both a REPE and corp PE arm of their business. But either way, its just modeling future cash flows and finding maximized return metrics based on leverage and operational efficiencies.
Got it, thanks. Were you recruited/headhunted for these roles or did you find them in your own network?
Both. recruiters are great and all, but I went out and looked for opportunities myself as well. I asked around my network as well as cold applying for a couple positions and got interviews that way as well.
I mean, you can obviously leave if you want, it's not prison. But it's worth asking why you want to leave, and what you want to do? You're in REIB, which has far more in common with investment banking than it does with other types of real estate (e.g. development or acquisitions) - what is it you are going to pivot to? If you want to go to law school or something, more power to you... but if the plan is to go work for another bank in a different coverage group, my guess is that you'll find you dislike that role just as much as the current one. Might be better off trying a more real estate focused role instead of a banking role which is real estate-adjacent
Whether you think that you can leave or that you cannot....you're right.
But seriously, building financial models and coordinating with large teams is transferable to many other roles. If you really cannot pitch your experience to companies outside of real estate there is always the nuclear option of B-School which would open any industry you want.
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