Career Pivot into Investment Sales
I am looking to pivot into CRE. I am targeting an entry level role as an investment sales analyst/associate at a top brokerage firm. I have been told from numerous CRE pro's that this is a great place to start, but I have also been told that it is incredibly important to get on a good team with strong consistent deal flow. I realize the entire market is in a downturn due to rate hikes and uncertainty of additional increases in the future. Despite this, I have a couple of questions:
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How can I ensure the team I am interviewing with is strong, (sees consistent deal flow?) Is there a proper way to ask this in an interview? I know other resources are out there like traded.co where you can see publicized deals, but it's hard to gauge this from an outside perspective.
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I am attracted to the institutional side of investment sales, as I have been told the larger deals provide more exposure to underwriting and also allows you to gain stronger connections with prestigious principal side investment firms. I also realize breaking into teams like these is much tougher, especially someone who doesn't have a traditional RE background. Is Middle Markets still a great place to begin? Is it possible to pivot onto an institutional team once within a top firm? Or are you usually pigeonholed to stay on the team you begin with?
Thank you all for any advice.
1. You can check their website to see how many listings they have, since that would mean a lot of their BOV's are going to OM's. You could also just ask the brokers that you'd be working for. Considering that you would be putting your career on the line by working for them, it's on them to bring in deals so it isn't frowned upon to ask how their deal flow is looking. Besides, if it is going well for them currently then they would be looking to brag anyways.
2. This seems to be a two part question:
- Middle market brokerage means you will be dealing with REPE or dev shops that are relatively small and probably doing deals in the $1-15MM range regularly with the occasional $20MM+ deal. There's nothing wrong with that and more middle market buy-side shops will have $500MM portfolios that are filled with these types of deals so you wouldn't be going from STNL or 5-unit MF to institutional assets or anything that drastic. Going to CBRE/JLL/Newmark/CW/etc. will open more doors for you, but even going to a M&M or more boutique brokerage won't hold you back from eventually transitioning to a principle role.
- I started at as a brokerage analyst before eventually transitioning over to the buy side, and I was on an institutional team so take this with a grain of salt. I wasn't aware of anyone in our office that went from a middle market to institutional asset team. Not to say that it couldn't be done, but I didn't see it happen back when I was in brokerage. I would imagine that if you were on a retail team to start and doing small strip centers, there wouldn't be a broker in the same office that was doing power centers a few desks down. Typically from what I've seen, is that the same lead broker's name will be on every OM and they would have jr brokers that would specialize under them and bring in deals that you would work on. In my personal experience we had 3 lead brokers and 6 jr brokers on our team with 3 analysts. Some of the jr agents would bring in deals that would be valued at around $5MM regularly and some would be $40MM+ but the same asset class. Maybe times have changed, but our office was segmented by asset class and not Middle Market MF and then 3 desks down were the analysts that did Institutional MF.
If your eventual goal is to go to the MF REPE's then I would say stick to the CBRE/JLL types and try to get on a team that is the type of asset class you want to invest in later in your career. Even if you got a CBRE/JLL and was in industrial but wanted to go to Multifamily later, then it would be a much harder pitch to future employers than just doing multifamily at a boutique brokerage.
Thank you very much. Really helpful. My largest concern is being on a strong team where I will have exposure to as many deals as possible.
As long as the work I am doing is intellectually stimulating, includes underwriting, and isn’t just straight prospecting and cold calling. I will be happy I think.
You may be disappointed, but the typical structure of an IS team will have salaried positions (analysts) who focus solely on the underwriting. The jr brokers (associates, senior associates) will almost always be tasked in generating new business & handing it off to their seniors (for the first few years). If you're lucky, some associate level positions on the IS side will put you on a salary for the first year/ two or offer you a draw. This is not always the case: I have seen instances where an incoming associate who has excel/ argus experience assist in the underwriting process. From what I've seen, the associates are smashing the phones, covering tours, setting up pitches & occasionally assist with underwriting.
Regarding deal flow, I would recommend looking them up on their company website - Many will have significant transaction lists which will showcase their work. For more current material I like to investigate through LinkedIn. In my market, the IS teams at the big shops (JLL, CBRE, Cush) upload a post every time they close a transaction.
You're going to see quite a bit change in the next year inside of IS. If you can weather the storm, there will be tons of opportunity.
What market are you in? What’s your background?
if anybody is looking to hire right now, chances are they are a strong team. Most the brokerages are thinking about trimming fat and hunkering down in case there is an extended period of reduced volume.
Just ask what kind of volume they’ve been doing. If you want to be more specific ask them what they’ve done since debt blew out in June. That will give you a feel if they are still able to get things done.
NYC. I do not come from finance or CRE background. Without giving too much away, I have 5 YOE in sales performance analysis/strategy. Been promoted several times, and worked at two industry leading Fortune 500 companies. I’m an expert in excel, have experience working with high value external clients . I believe I have a lot of transferable experience, and I’ve completed CRE modeling courses to get up to speed.
With your background there is no reason you can’t break into IS and figure it out. Gotta show the hunger and tenacity to go get the job and somebody will respect the hustle and hire you. It’s worth it.
Both your questions can be answered the same. Any IS team at JLL and CBRE in a HCOL city will have good deal flow and institutional clients.
Outside of JLL and CBRE, you’ll need to be more selective. CW has some really good teams as well.
As some have mentioned, investment sales volume is slowing down now, but there is always a team out there looking to fill a position. At this time, I would think you will find more opportunities with team's focused on multi-family or industrial as an asset classes. Office is difficult right now because of the WFH trends and declining occupancy levels. Retail has also had its issues over the past several years, but there are plenty of teams that are still doing well.
To focus on institutional deals, you can research online to find out who is doing $100M+ deals in the market where you live. Also, teams will often say that they specialize in institutional deals on their company website bios and/or LinkedIn. Look for vice chairman at CBRE, JLL, Cushman, and Newmark that specialize in investment sales / capital markets in the location that you want to work. Then do some research on them and contact them directly or the company they work for regarding entry level positions. Also, any opportunity at Eastdil Secured would be consistent with what you are looking for.
You should network with people in the CRE industry and reach out to the groups mentioned above. As you network and build relationships, try to connect the dots and see if they know anyone. Your resume/application plus someone reaching out on your behalf will go a long way. Also, if you apply for positions with the companies mentioned above, you might initially meet with a manager and you can explain what you are looking for and they can then try to direct you to a top team, assuming they are looking to grow.
As far as starting out with a team focused on middle-market deals, I would try to start where you want to be long-term. You can transition, but it's not that difficult to get the position that you are looking for, so you might as well do what you want.
I would also look at debt/equity teams at JLL, Newmark and CBRE.
Can I ask where you are located?
NYC. See above for more info on background
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