Career Path: Loan Analyst to Grad School?
I just began as a commercial loan analyst working for a hybrid bank/mortgage bank. I am looking for some feedback as to whether I should consider going back to school in about 3-5 years to get another degree. The way I look at it is, eventually I am going to be a producer so relationships are the most important thing, but real estate finance is a lot more analytical than regular CRE brokerage(investment sales and leasing).
A little background on myself: I graduated from undergrad last year(May 2012). I had internship experience working in brokerage firms but couldn't land a job so I became a sales broker for a few months after school in order to network my way into an actual job in real estate finance or for a development firm. After making zero money for 9 months, different leads led me into a job which I am very lucky to have, to be honest.
I got treated like absolute crap during some of my interviews because of where I went to school(a West-Coast public state school) even though my real estate qualifications were up to par. I learned that unlike investment banking, jobs in real estate finance are truly hand picked. There are few companies who hire a new analyst class every year. Basically, there is an individual reason why every position was created. FYI, in my case, the person who previously held my position amicably left the firm due to maternity and I had the right timing to snag the position before anyone else could interview.
What are the exit ops to being a CRE loan analyst? I currently analyze primarily multifamily and retail loan requests($2-10M) for a production office of a West Coast Bank. If I decide to go back to grad school I am strongly considering USC(Southern Cal) because their alumni network is dominant in Southern California.
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This is a very niche area. While I am no expert but I have seen 3 primary places people land. 1)REIT; 2) Real-estate investment banking; 3) Real estate focused P/E funds. Heard that a few big players like Blackstone are buying up properties to rent. Cohen and Steers is also a real estate focused asset manager that could be of interest.
Here's a fundamental question--why are you looking at exit options? Have you considered working your way up the ladder where you're at? You're not going to be making the big bucks in real estate/loans unless you are part of the production staff/are an entrepreneur. In our business (and in most businesses) people do businesses with those they know, like and trust. Ask yourself this question--if you want to produce revenue for yourself or an institution, how is going to grad school going to positively impact that? I run the regional branches of a bank--I want to a pretty elite university in the lower Mid-Atlantic. My business partner is a natural born producer and was absolutely critical to our launch--he is a high school graduate.
So before looking at exit options or grad school, ask yourself how grad school is going to take you to where you want to be.
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