Consulting to RE Finance

Hello All,

I am exploring next steps for my career and would love to get this community's advice on what would make sense for me if I wanted to work more directly in real estate. I currently am a 2nd year analyst at a top non-MBB consulting firm, and have gained a good amount of project experience optimizing company footprints and real estate portfolios, either sparked by mergers or a general desire to cut costs. I will also have the opportunity to work on site selection and workplace strategy projects as well. I have a background in residential real estate too.

The way I see it, I could aim for a number of things:
- Development associate at a big developer
- Acquisitions associate at a REIT or REPE fund
- Consulting function at a big brokerage (CBRE, CW, JLL)
- FP&A or equivalent role at a development firm (Irvine company has a solid group) or brokerage
- Real Estate related tech company (Trulia, Airbnb, Realty Mogul)
- Entrepreneurial pursuit in the real estate work (RE services, property management)

As you can see, I am open to a number of paths and would love to hear what you monkeys think is a good move given my background. Feel free to throw out other things I haven't thought of yet as well.

As far as my priorities go:
- Upward career trajectory (towards larger future compensation and b school prospects)
- Balance between high comp and reasonable hours (compared to consulting grind)
- Interesting work, and learning things that I can apply outside of my day job

Thanks for the comments! Bananas will be going out to thoughtful responses.

 
Best Response

This has been done before. I know multiple people who have left consulting for RE. I know an analyst who left consulting to work in the CMBS world as a lender and another who worked as an analyst on the debt brokerage side.

That being said, I personally think your priorities are too generic. Most of the people in finance are looking for those things. You kind of just said, "I want a good job in real estate. Tell me how to get there." You need to ask yourself what type of work you would like to do in RE. Is it on the debt or equity side? Is it acquisition/development or management? Do you want to own (or at least be on the side that owns the assets) or do you want to advise these owners?

The upward trajectory is really what you make of it. The guys who generally own the real estate make the most money, and business school isn't that useful in RE. I generally think that your hours at any company will be better than what you faced as a consultant. It will generally be more stable than living out of a suitcase day to day, but you will still have to travel. As for interesting work that is applicable outside of the office, very few and far between skills in RE are applicable outside of RE.

I think you should look for the position that will give you the most amount of exposure to the different asset classes. As a lender, you will see many different asset classes and types of transactions. You can be a special servicer doing work outs on deals that are going bad. You can work in equity sales or debt placement at a big brokerage. I would recommend taking a position that allows you to see as many deals as you can but not get pigeonholed as "the [insert asset class] guy" just yet; I suspect you're still in your 20's.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply IronChef204.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I could see myself doing a lot of different things, and aren't super partial to one over the other. I'm trying to identify what path within real estate would be best for me given my prior experience and priorities.

Any monkeys have some strong opinions out there? I was expecting to hear responses like "do whatever it takes to get two years in dev / acquisitions at Hines or Tishman and then you can leave to REPE for serious $$$".

I appreciate the advice of picking a role that would allow me to see many types of deals. I'm a little hesitant to leave consulting because so many doors are open and as soon as I leave I'm picking a role / industry. I know I am passionate about real estate and don't see that changing, and know I could make as much or more in an acquisitions / dev role at a major REIT, REPE, developer with a much better work / life balance so it's hard to grind it out in consulting for too much longer.

 

I think you should do whatever it takes to get 2 year in dev / acquisitions at Hines or Tishman and then you can leave to REPE for serious $$$...because that is how it works for everyone on this forum!!!

Seriously though, you are going to have to give us some more detail on what you currently do/narrow down what your targets are if you want anyone to actually help you.

 

Incredibly hard to answer, OP, given the breadth of the skills you learn in consulting and the amount of different roles in real estate you are interested in. I think you need to narrow down what your skills are, what you want to do day to day, and what you're most interested in

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

If you have a higher appetite for risk I would recommend a job that includes development. From my experience, a REPE fund (buy, fix, sell) has to do well on pretty much every deal for everyone to be happy. So lots of singles and doubles. Development deals yield the opportunities for more home runs

Fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of run. - Kipling
 

Following up on this thread - I do think I'd like to aim for an acquisitions / development role. My one hesitation is that while the market is strong right now, what happens if the market turns? Similarly, do you guys in the industry think a slowdown is likely in the next 1-3 years? I've heard that entire acquisitions teams can get terminated in bad times.

My thoughts are that if shit ever hits the fan, I could reenter consulting or then go get my MBA, but wanted to hear what you all have to say about it. I really value the advice this forum has to offer, and appreciate all of the responses!

 

Acquisition people do tend to be the first cut during a downturn (if you slow down/stop investing, then you don't need as big of an acquisitions team). Generally LIFO applies, but if you are a rainmaker, then you have a higher chance of being kept around/shuffled somewhere else until the market turns around (usually shuffled to AM/workouts).

 

one question: why? why would you leave a respectable profession for another totally unrelated profession that is sucking right now?

i am assuming you mean management consulting - > re, NOT it consulting or operations consulting - > re. personally, dont know of ANYBODY who made such a transition. probably bc the skill sets are incongruent., consultants dont bring anything to the table for an re business.

i have met a shit-ton of real estate foke, and the most popular paths to entry from outside the re industry is investment banking nowadays...believe it or not... and then probably followed by big 4 accounting, then lawyers.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 

After becoming a consultant, your job is to offer your skills to other people. A consultant gives advice to solve problems, makes recommendations, or provide specialized work. So, if you have an interest in giving ideas or advice to other businesses and having a particular interest in real estate, financial service field then there is a good chance for you as you can find a position with an organization doing precisely that.

 

I work in a REIT (Top 10 based on AUM) I don't know anyone at my firm that has a consulting background. Most of the junior guys have ibanking background.

However, I'm sure it could be done if you network hard.

 

Hi elgodfather, no, I never sleep and so I can respond to any lonely threads (like this one) at all hours of the night. Impressive, I know ;-)

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Maybe one of our professional members will share their wisdom: Jamal BlueDevilCRE yvetteromero

Hope that helps.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
elgodfather:
Currently, I work in construction consulting; advising on project controls, dispute resolution, and claims analysis etc. My question is, for someone with my background is it possible to make the jump into development without an MRED or an MBA?

From my perspective, it should not be too difficult as my experience is pretty relevant. I am just not familiar with how competitive development roles are, or how much experience they look for in their typical applicants. Is it possible to just network my way in?

Development companies would most likely look at you as a construction guy, which they 100% hire and rely on, but you would be more of a construction owners rep than a development manager.

If you want to be a development manager down the road, a MRED would be a great option. That plus your construction background would make you a very desirable candidate.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

somebody else asked about this once on here, I think. I don't see it done much either, but I see no reason why you couldn't pull something off.

"...Partner with Spieker Partners (1988-93), and a Project Director with Trammell Crow Company (1985-87). Prior to that he worked for IBM and McKinsey and Company." http://www.blakehunt.com/executive_officers.php

"Mike Fascitelli, CEO of Vornado [VNO] ... started at McKinsey, and then went to Goldman as a real estate investment banker. After several years at Goldman, Steve Roth lured Fascitelli away from banking to work at VNO." http://www.lifeonthebuyside.com/kicking-the-bricks-real-estate/

Obviously those guys are a little higher up in the food chain, so those are silly examples, but the point is, people move around and real estate can be learned. As far as whether you'd have to take a paycut and have to start at the bottom in a 1st yr analyst position, I'm not totally sure. If you want your best shot at 70s or 80s incl bonus pre-MBA, try for the respected i-banks/funds/etc and avoid the Marcus & Millichap-type shops, in case that isn't obvious.

This might sound like a stretch, but if you can find someone on LinkedIn who used to do strategy consulting and switched to RE, treat him as an "alum" of your industry and beg him for advice on his unusual transition. I have made similar connections that way with people who had nothing else in common with me and were nice enough to help out.

 
prospie:

somebody else asked about this once on here, I think. I don't see it done much either, but I see no reason why you couldn't pull something off.

"...Partner with Spieker Partners (1988-93), and a Project Director with Trammell Crow Company (1985-87). Prior to that he worked for IBM and McKinsey and Company." http://www.blakehunt.com/executive_officers.php

"Mike Fascitelli, CEO of Vornado [VNO] ... started at McKinsey, and then went to Goldman as a real estate investment banker. After several years at Goldman, Steve Roth lured Fascitelli away from banking to work at VNO."
http://www.lifeonthebuyside.com/kicking-the-bricks...

Obviously those guys are a little higher up in the food chain, so those are silly examples, but the point is, people move around and real estate can be learned. As far as whether you'd have to take a paycut and have to start at the bottom in a 1st yr analyst position, I'm not totally sure. If you want your best shot at 70s or 80s incl bonus pre-MBA, try for the respected i-banks/funds/etc and avoid the Marcus & Millichap-type shops, in case that isn't obvious.

This might sound like a stretch, but if you can find someone on LinkedIn who used to do strategy consulting and switched to RE, treat him as an "alum" of your industry and beg him for advice on his unusual transition. I have made similar connections that way with people who had nothing else in common with me and were nice enough to help out.

You're right -- I saw that thread earlier by someone who was in a very similar position as me. However, the thread did not gain any traction and nothing was to be learned from it, sadly, lol.

I've already learned some industry terminology, while REIB might sound like a good entry point, I want to be closer to the bricks (did I use that right?). My research and understanding of how REIB works indicate that you're sort of the middleman between the RE firms and the financing companies. I want to work for the RE firms.

Just spent a couple minutes surfing LinkedIn and I've found some potential people I could speak to, but the connection is hinged on their being alumni, and not necessarily people who would share a similar, uncommon background (i.e., consulting to real estate).

Thanks for the tips.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could frame my résumé / work experience to lend itself more towards RE?

The nature of my projects have zero relation to RE, but in an interview, I'm confident I could articulate how the skill sets are relatively similar, but simply need to be applied to a different domain of knowledge.

But back to the resume -- there's nothing on there in terms of subject matter that would lend itself to RE.

I can highlight my modeling, research, and project management experience, but that's about it.

Thoughts?

 

I would focus on having a good explanation as to why you want to work in real estate, and then get in front of as many people in the industry as possible. If you're smart, personable, and have a good answer as to why you want to work in the business someone will probably give you a shot. It's just a matter of throwing enough shit against the wall until something sticks, and someone decides to try you out.

Have you explored the different types of jobs within real estate? Not all analyst positions are the same. It might be easier to offer you constructive advice if we knew you were targeting lending, or REPE, etc.

 

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