Considering going upmarket from middle market REPE to major institutional player (Starwood, BX, KKR)

Hey all - wanted to get your opinions on making a career move. Currently an associate at a middle market REPE fund in NY. I've enjoyed it a lot - been able to take a ton of responsibility and have been quite active, closing 3 deals or so in the last 10 months which I've really learned a lot from. I have an opportunity to join a BX/KKR/Starwood type real estate platform in investments. I think the brand name, comp, and potential flexibility in the future is tough to turn down but the tradeoff would be lifestyle, team culture, etc. Curious how you guys would think about this.

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Really depends on the person. Are you willing to give up your life for work? And I really mean give it up. An old team member of mine moved to a BX RE portfolio company for the pay and prestige.  They burnt him out so bad in about 1-year. Hard to leave because you have no time to interview and no one pays as well. He makes a boatload of money. More than me actually and I’m a VP. But..he works every night until midnight-2AM and they own him on weekends. No gym time. No friends. No time to just relax when you need it. Really think about what your goals are. 

For example, I don’t make as much as I can. But I work at a top developer in my city and do very varied and interesting work which is allowing me to eventually go on my own. And on top of that, I have time to actually look at deals for myself because I can get home at 6 pm, put my kids to sleep, and work on my own things until 10PM. At a BX type company, you won’t get home until 12AM at the earliest when you’re younger. 

 

one off type things - affordable housing, something from a servicer, self-storage etc - passing on most opportunities

 

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