CRE Appraisal to RE Private Equity?

I am a recent graduate and have been working at a mid-sized commercial real estate appraisal shop for a year now. My goal is to work in Real Estate Private Equity. What should my next steps be to landing an Analyst position in REPE? I don't want to get stuck in appraisal!

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Polish your modeling skills and then network.

It is going to be difficult to go straight from appraisal to the buy side, so keep your eyes open for any opportunity to get you closer.

I was an appraiser out of school and I took a job at a servicer, worked at a couple of life companies and landed at a debt fund late last year. So definitely possible, but not really a linear path.

 

I worked in Valuation at a large brokerage for about a year and made the transition to an acquisitions position at a REIT recently. It is definitely hard but work on your Argus modeling and network and should be attainable.

I did have a background in Investment Research so that may have helped overcome the "appraiser" mentality for interviews. What I mean by that is, appraisal does not teach you how to think like an investor which I believe really hinders your ability to successfully answer interview questions. I would read up on deals, reasons, etc. if you have any free time after cranking out those reports and actually look into "why" or "why not" it made sense.

Good luck.

 

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