Capital Markets vs. Investment Sales for PE Exit.

Quick background... I will be graduating this year with a degree in finance and have been pounding the networking trail. I have some relevant internship experience and the eventual goal is to land in PE or Development.

I have been advised by a mentor to start in Brokerage to learn what drives demand for Real Estate. I have been looking at this route and I wanted to come to the forum for some advice.

What role will make me a more marketable candidate for an exit to a buyside position? Capital Markets (Debt Placement) or Investments Sales?

Are there any general benchmarks I can look to to gauge dealflow for a specific group?

Which role is best considering where we are in the cycle? I know credit is starting to tighten up in my market.

Thanks in advance for any comment!

12 Comments
 
Best Response

I'm in this seat now and second this opinion, though mine obviously comes with a bit of bias. I have worked with a ton of top players, learned how to underwrite all parts of the capital stack as well as all product types. The most important factor if you are starting in brokerage is deal flow. You won't learn anything if you are working on two deals a year, so while I would recommend D/E brokerage, you should really base your decision on joining the best and most reputable team, since they will have strong deal flow and will work with top sponsors.

 

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