Career Path - Getting into Real Estate

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to kind of introduce myself and my current situation. I'm from Germany and I'm currently 19 years old. I just graduated high school ("Abitur" in Germany). I've always been interested in Finance (especially in Hedge Funds) starting at the age of 15/16 years. But as of now I'd definitely like to go into real estate and try to combine that with my interest in finance. My father owns his own real estate company in which I am supposed to take over with my older brother. The company focuses mainly on multi-family property development as well as on acting as a middleman for bigger property deals (recieving comission on the sale).

But I'm more interested in investing in residential apartments / commercial space to rent out and build a bigger portfolio, therefore basicly becoming a residential property company and maybe turning it into a real estate fund one day.

Now I'd really appreciate it, if some experts on here could give me some advice or suggestions on what I should do in the future in terms of my career path, as I've only talked to my father so far. The current plan is that I'm going to study real estate starting in September. Another question is if I should start at the family business right away or would you advise me to go get some work experience in another company which focuses on rental property investing and join the family business after that? Also which kind of company should I get some work experience in? REIT or what would you suggest?

I appreciate all kind of advice.

Have a nice day!