Career Advice
Hey guys,
I am going into my senior year of college and got a full-time offer at a rating agency for CMBS. I find the work interesting, but I would like to eventually do either acquisitions or asset management at a REIT, Investment Management Firm, or REPE shop. What would the transition would be like coming from a rating agency? Is this a good place to start my career or am I better off not taking the offer and going after positions on the principle side?
Thank you in advance.
Hey realestateinvestor10123, what a lonely thread. I'm here since nobody responded ...so maybe one of these discussions will help:
More suggestions...
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
So, my general advice is to be hesitant declining an offer in hand without having another one to accept. However, you are starting your senior year, so not really in a last moment timeframe. I'm guessing the rating agency is using the strategy of making early offers to get people to confirm, as they are not super competitive on a relative basis. So, if you turn them down (or defer if possible), I don't think crazy. There are always jobs in banking, brokerage, and appraisal you can probably get (assuming you want a CRE career) if you don't land the big institutional job you are seeking.
So, on to the whole rating agency job itself... To be very honest, I have only really known one person who worked for one of the large agencies doing CMBS and REIT bonds. This person was hired at a senior level based on their experience in real estate financing. I think these jobs are more or less "pure finance" to be honest, that is not a "knock" but I don't see it being super helpful for a core real estate career. I'm sure there are all sorts of legit "exits" into finance, and probably many within the CMBS world (I'd guess this, not really sure so ask others....), or even debt funds. Bottom line, I'd only take this role if you like this role and find it worthwhile in and of itself. I would not take this as some sort of "bridge" to institutional real estate.
Hope this helps, maybe more people will opine!
Thank you for your insights. I would get a lot of deal flow exposure, but like you were saying it is specifically in CMBS. Not sure how that experience would transfer to something like typical balance sheet lending, or which would be more relevant for getting into CRE equity.
So, to be clear, a rating agency provides a service for a fee. This is not "deal flow exposure", you are a service provider to the deal (similar to a really high end form of an appraisal of sorts). I don't think appraisers, CPAs, or accountants can speak in terms of "deal flow" like someone on the principal or even brokerage side. You are not part of the "hunt" and have no "stress of closing". You get paid for a job that must be unbiased and unrelated to success or failure of the deal (well, that's what is supposed to happen...).
Just making this point so you don't mis-conflate or mis-understand what this world is all about.
Take it and reneg if you get a better offer.
And then use that offer to leverage for future ones
I knew this was an option, but did not know how bad of a look that would be for someone trying to build a reputation. Also, do you happen to know any equity shops or analyst programs that do early recruiting for undergrads I should be checking out in the NYC/Boston Area?
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Yea it would need to be significantly better in terms of pay or shop but it would worth considering.
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