Continue pushing for development jobs or go out on my own?
Hi All, I started off my career working in community/economic development and saw that the developers had the most impact, so I went back to school at a top 20 MBA program and did a concentration in real estate. During my MBA program I could not find a development internship (my school is in a city that is primarily driven by the oil industry, and oil was tanking at the time) so I did an brokerage internship at one of the top 2 brokerage firms in the country. I learned all about the office, retail, and commercial markets. I finished my MBA and still could not land a development job, so I took a job in asset management/property management at at one of the largest retail real estate companies in North America. I planned to only be there for a year but I have been stuck here for 3 years. The work is not challenging, no one else here has a masters degree, and there are few opportunities for promotion.
Every development job I have applied to says that I do not have enough underwriting experience, other than what I did during my MBA program. My undergrad was social sciences, so I don't have any finance experience other than my MBA. As I continue to network and apply for opportunities, I am finding that the salary ranges that I am being offered are around 85K-90K, despite having 8 years of total work experience + the MBA.
At this point I am feeling really discouraged and want to give up. I have a pending offer for a strategy & operations position at a real estate tech start up. With it there are promotion opportunities and I can actually learn something new but I wouldn't be working with any tangible real estate projects.
I have a passion for mixed use, adaptive reuse, and sustainable development. At this point I am thinking that maybe I just take this startup and then start doing smaller deals on my own like purchasing small strip malls or duplex and rehabbing them.
Is it worth it to stay the course and continue to push for development roles or take the new job and pursue small deals on my own to learn hands on?
I think your situation is one that is more common than people realize when attempting to "transition" to real estate development or other sought after fields when doing so mid-career. I think a lot of people actually do take the 85-90k type offers (not sure what market you are in, so that can relatively better here and there) as they just hate the field they are leaving. If you are going to make a move where you retain seniority/level, you will need to make it as close of a lateral jump as possible or at least go to a team that needs your specific skill set as part of their development team. This may feel a bit like a "two-hop" but it's a path.
If you are looking at the entry level type jobs, don't expect to get a lot of offers, they will prefer less experience (goes along with pay expectations), so you need to on roles where your experience/background is seen as a major asset. I've known people to jump from econ development into real estate development very well, so focusing on urban/mixed use style developers that may be seeking P3 style deals (or affordable/mixed housing) may be an obvious spot. Especially if they are building with ground floor retail where your current job experience can play well. This is threading a needle, as you are discovering, you seem to get it with your listed passions.
As for the tech start up job, I can't really say, those are mixed bags. Could position you well, could be a bust, beyond anyone's judgement here. I'd only take if you really like and believe in the company, its capitalization, and see it as a long-term play (even if you would jump later anyway).
Doing "own" deals w/o experience/know-how is a mixed, risky bag. Perhaps you will be great at it, but I don't know that is really the solution. Doing own deals in lieu of getting a job in development tends not to the profile of success. Still, I don't want to pretend to judge your ability to be successful, just pointing out its not the best thought process to arrive at that step in opinion.
This was an excellent and really helpful reply. I agree that taking the tech start up job would take me off of the path I am currently on. I am only considering taking it out of desperation with hating my current company. I have mainly been pursuing RED firms that have a focus on mixed use real estate and P3 because my past experience would be an asset in that area. My current job does not pay great so 85K-90K is doable, especially if it allows me to scale up my skillset and get underwriting under my belt so that I am more competitive for the higher paying jobs. I am in talks with a firm that is in my ideal location and does P3 mixed use development, but their hiring process is super slow. I guess I just need to stay the course and continue to network and see what I can try and land. Doing RED on my own is a goal, but quite unrealistic at the current moment due to lack of capital haha. Thanks again for your response. It has talked me off of the ledge.
Curious, what market/region would you branch off on your own in? What are your strengths?
Eius in est cumque veritatis nobis sed. Provident est at voluptatem et. Tenetur suscipit sequi enim ab aut.
Excepturi tenetur quod qui alias. Est sit esse sed. A eius expedita sed saepe sequi sequi non. Dicta qui rerum soluta non dolorem. Facilis sed sed natus et tenetur ut illum.
Voluptatem laboriosam beatae accusamus tempore reprehenderit sed hic beatae. Nemo consequatur tempora saepe dolorem sed hic quasi. Sit sed est aut laudantium sed et atque.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...