Development vs acquisitions vs investment sales
Good evening,
After talking with numerous professionals i've narrowed my search down to three areas of real estate to ideally start my career off in. These are: development, acquisitions and investment sales. My question is if you could start your career from the very beginning which of these three routes would you choose and why? I've been told that investment sales would allow me the widest introduction to the industry but If I eventually would like to transition over to the development or acquisition side is there really a point? Thanks
Curious as to what on your list did you cross off and why? You might find your answer in the response
@hornedfrog123"
CRE has posted numerous threads on this topic, a day in the life of, etc. Having interviewed for a role of Investment Sales, it's generally based on the "team" you are brought in with. You'd want to align yourself with the best guys who you can work with. Realistically? I was told it'd take at least 6 months to 1 year to strike a deal.
I have noticed it is harder to get into M&A and Development without prior experience.
Thoughts CRE ?
I think @hornedfrog123" 's premise is wrong. People don't have the option of 2-3 development, acquisitions and investment sales jobs just lined up before them, all with equal comp and equal culture, because that doesn't exist. A quick trek around this website will show how difficult it is to get even a single job in commercial real estate. It took me over 70 meetings and interviews to secure one and I almost took a position I didn't want just to pay the bills.
Even if you someone could find a theoretical investment sales job, an acquisitions job, and a development job - each with cool teams full of mentors that are willing to pay you $100,000 + bonus + 1% pref (again, this doesn't exist) - the same type of person isn't going to excel at each and it's not simple enough to say X type should do X, Y type should do Y and whatnot because there are different ways to approach all of the above.
Finally, OP doesn't say what his end goal is. Hard to tell you where to start, man, if we don't know where you want to end up.
What is "1% pref" (in terms of compensation)? Are there firms out there that pay their employees pref returns on operations/capital events on the deal level? I have heard of getting a few bps of the firm's carry/promot (on fund level).
Hah, sorry - that was part of my exaggeration. People do get paid on the deal level though.
All three cross-pollinate and will provide you with an easy transition should you choose to move down the road (if I had to pick an odd one out, I'd say development).
Having worked in all three capacities, I wouldn't say one is better than the other to start out in. For entry-level positions, acquisitions typically pays the highest but is the hardest to break into (simply not a lot of openings). I'd focus more on finding a good team/group you will be working with that has good deal flow/reputation.
Thanks for all of these responses everyone. I've been told that investment sales is one of the best places to start if you want the best introduction to the industry. With that said my ultimate end game is to hopefully work in development or acquisitions for a real estate private equity company. It would be an incredible opportunity to start at any of the above three.
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