Career Path into CRE with an Undergrad in Finance.

I have a few questions to get some clarity within the CRE industry. I have two years left in completing my undergrad. My school does not have any focus on real estate so I went on to pursue a finance degree. If my end goal is to use my finance skills and gain enough experience so I can syndicate/invest in my own deals, what career path should I look into?

My initial goal was to complete my undergrad and to work in the banking industry, however during my first year of uni, I was introduced into wholesaling as a side hustle. I have done a few wholesale deals and also helped property managers with tenant placements resulting in being able to pay for my tuition (I live in Canada so a four year degree in finance is roughly around 30k). After falling in love with real estate, I am now looking into breaking in CRE. The end goal of career is to develope skills to syndicate/invest in my own deals in CRE. So my questions are:

  • What would be a career path in the industry that provides the most experience in aquiring, analyzing and managing deals?

  • What sort of internships should I be looking into that can set me up with my career goal? I have been applying for analyst roles but no luck... yet.

  • With my undegrad solely focused on corporate finance, what are additional education I should look into to set me up for sucess in search for an internship? ( I have been learning financial modelling and considering on getting an Argus certification,, are these necessary?)

I am hoping after I read the threads that I can get a clear understading of a career path that can align with career goal.

Thank you everyone.

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https://www.adventuresincre.com/</a">The Adventures in CRE website answers all of your questions.

In short: any experience in RE is good. Brokerage, development, private equity, and acquisitions will all set you up very well. Given your wholesaling background, I would suggest looking into Investment Sales Brokerage.

Speaking of which, get an internship at one of the big brokerages. CBRE is the biggest, but there are numerous others. I believe Avison Young is big in Canada? You can do your own homework on that.

Keep checking in with this thread. When you don't know something, search key words on this site and you'll keep going down rabbit holes and learn a ton more. Read through the website I linked to, there's a lot of gold in there.

Also stay up to date with https://therealdeal.com/</a">The Real Deal and https://commercialobserver.com/</a">Commercial Observer. Both are great publications. There's probably more out there, I'm unfamiliar with Canada. Keep it up, you're off to a good start.

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