Choosing Between Two Top CRE Platforms — Need Perspective
I am deciding between a summer role at Starwood Property Trust in Miami (Starwood Mortgage Capital team, CMBS pool/B-piece investing team, or REO/servicing-driven investment opportunities team) vs Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking CRE origination team in New York, focused on CMBS, balance-sheet lending, and syndicated executions.
Compensation at Starwood is approximately $30/hour, while Deutsche Bank pays $53/hour with overtime. The Deutsche Bank internship runs 10 weeks, versus 8 weeks for Starwood. Both roles offer strong exposure to CMBS and real estate debt investing and would provide a deep technical foundation over the summer.
I have been advised to prioritize the strongest possible brand, but the legacy and signaling value of each platform makes the decision difficult. I currently live in NYC, so I am leaning towards Deutsche, but in the Long term, I want to work at a REPE megafund, either on the acquisitions side or in debt.
From a recruiting and career-optionality perspective, which summer role would position me better for future opportunities?
Is it DB’s Commercial Bank or their Lev Fin which is IB. I started out in Lev Fin at BofA.
I wanted to first do IB bc of the obvious benefits, and after 2 - 3 years you can go and work anywhere you want.
Good point — I meant within the Investment Bank under the FICC division, not investment banking M&A specifically, but rather real estate structured finance. Either way, the role is comparable to other banks on the real estate structured finance side, with potential exposure to their special situations group (transitional lending/note acquisitions) as well.
Curious where you ultimately transitioned to and how instrumental your LevFin experience was in enabling that move. From a recruiting perspective, do you think I’d have similar optionality coming from either STWD or DB’s platform, given that I want to stay in CRE and would likely re-recruit for full-time roles?
My view, take the IB job. The key is learning how to capitalize deals with the use of debt and all the different mechanics that go into using debt to finance the deal.
Youll be better positioned to go work on the equity side (real pe like BX), you can go work at a developer, you can go work for Barry even if ur so inclined.
Really appreciate you sharing your perspective. This is helpful. Enjoy the holidays.
Likewise
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