I originally wanted to go in to brokerage for the usual reasons (entrepreneurial, eat what you kill/meritocratic, high income potential, opportunity to us a skillset/access to network with capital/knowledge to eventually perform my own deals one day), but the more I've read on investment sales, the more I think I would like to pursue it. Having a skillset where you understand all the intricate details of a deal/valuation, where you might not pick up that much in a traditional broker role focusing on deal execution/calling, fits my personality + it sounds like a safety net to fall back on.
I am hoping you guys can add more color or correct me where I am wrong: It sounds like you join a team as an analyst on a base salary + some sort of bonus structure. Expect to spend 2-3 years performing financial modeling (argus), some level of calling, and misc. grunt work and then the opportunity to move up the chain as an IS broker OR it seems like IS analysts have more opportunities to move into development, acquisitions, REIT due to their years spent in the weeds and not just cold calling and trying to execute deals.
Also, I've searched Linked In, and there do not seem to be too many "investment sales" brokers. I've noticed there are some "capital markets analysts" for the big guys (CBRE/JLL). Would this be the same role?
Well firstly I-sales is brokerage, so let's just clear that one up first. IS is definitely NOT a safety net though. The saying goes something like tenant reps and i-sales guys make rain, while landlord reps have security and end up making the same over time. You're pretty accurate on the analyst to production route though. Some less technical product types might move you quicker, but that's pretty typical. Dude above cleared up the Capital Market's question perfectly, though I don't consider myself a capital markets guy - that's the debt side.
Depending on the market, IS is typically the hardest group to crack into. They're usually lean by design, and promote from within. IS seems super sexy when you're in school because they're the ones getting articles written about them, but it's far less glamorous once you get inside. You might not be on the phones until you're in production, and some of the agency guys start pinging tenants pretty early on, but once you're in production just about all you'll do is sit on the phone from 9-5 and fix analysts mistakes all night. As a VP I literally just sit on the phone all day and respond to emails. Dudes on the agency side seem to be at lunch's or some kind of event all day every single day. It's true I'm far closer with the principal side than the dudes in agency and most of my analysts do leave for the buyside, but the shit is not glamorous 97% of the time. Depends on your long game. I do know teams that hide their juniors from any limelight, which has to make it hard to make that jump as an analyst - so food for thought.
All that said - IS is not the place to learn about the "intricate details of a deal". Even if you are a stud, no one takes any assumptions from IS seriously - they always back check it with a LL rep. If you want to learn about a product type, go landlord rep. Once you sell a deal you're out, you have no idea what it takes to actually make that deal happen on the back end. IS sells the dream, agency executes on it. Simple as that. Each side has their strengths, I can school an agency guy on the financial side, he can do the same on the leasing side. The best model in the world means nothing if you don't lease the building.