Need some help/advice, guys.
I'm a junior economics major at a well ranked, but not target by any means, liberal arts college. I thought I wanted to do IB, but I just found out that none of my summer plans are going to work out. I had an IB internship during last semester, but I can't work there this summer. I think I'm realizing that I can't make it into banking, so I'm trying to explore other avenues.
I've always been interested in real estate/development. I always try and follow really noteworthy development stories in major cities, like the Chicago Spire. It's so interesting to me. I always tell people I would be an architect if I had the artistic talent. I've been reading a bit about real estate development on here and other places. I think it could be a good option for me.
A couple of main questions:
1. In terms of moving forward with this summer, I interned at a large non-profit organization that was basically a senior citizen real estate company. I was interning in their accounting department at the time. Should I approach them and ask if they could put me somewhere that would be relevant to real estate development? Like acquisitions?
2. Grad school. I've been looking at some MRED programs. My understand is that these are 1 year programs? I just don't know if I could get into them. I have a 3.5 GPA at top 50 LAC with some internships. Would you take the GRE or GMAT for these? GMAT would be great for me because then I might apply for some Masters of Finance programs. Do any MRED programs have class profiles like Finance Masters do? So I can see if that would be a viable route for me?
3. What is the career compensation trajectory like? I've heard developers make good money but nowhere near bankers. What do most people make right off the bat graduating from a MRED?
Sorry that was a lot of information - but I really appreciate anyone willing to help me out on any of this.
One last question - is lifestyle good in most real estate development groups starting out after college/masters? 40-50 hours? That would be a nice difference to banking
Lifestyle is much better (50-55 hours starting out). Regarding your internship, do you mean Assisted Living? When I hear Senior Citizen Real Estate I think of single family homes in Palm Springs.
Your other questions would be great for professors (Finance, Real Estate if available) at your university. Not only could they answer them more effectively but they also present a spectacular networking tool to local companies. I wish I had done this more while still in school - they're looking to help, but want to see some initiative from the student.
Thanks for the insight; yeah it's assisted living. They have properties in 28 states. I wouldn't want to do senior citizen real estate, though. I would want to do commercial properties in cities (skyscrapers). I was thinking that it would be good to work there though to gain some skills/knowledge in the general area before I got a masters, if I were to do that. Does that sound not really like a good idea?
In regards to asking professors, unfortunately it's a liberal arts college, so we don't even have finance faculty. We have professors that teach a couple finance/accounting courses, so I will get in contact with him, but other than that... Just didn't go to the right school for what I ended up wanting to do :\
First off, for your own good stop calling it 'senior citizen real estate' - it is not accurate and it comes off as naive, and most importantly if you put this on a resume people won't understand what you mean. If it's an assisted living facility (i.e., on site staff helping the residents), call it that. If it's just a REOC that focuses on acquiring/operating ~ 55+ communities, it's senior housing.
As others have mentioned here you make less in development starting out but you have potential to make much more than senior bankers at later levels of the game if you play your cards right/are fortunate, etc. However, the work-life balance is generally better at all levels than banking, although it does fluctuate depending on the projects you have going on and your function at the firm.
I'd advocate against an MRED until you have some real estate experience. Having work experience in CRE will make you more marketable post-grad and also will probably allow you to get more out of the courses while you're there.
Comp in development is extremely low at junior levels compared to IB; all the money is made when you have skin in the game
If you're working for a big group, what does the comp look like? I feel like if I lived in an affordable city (Atlanta, Houston, Chicago) I would be okay starting off at $50k
I don't think comp is all that much lower, especially considering hours worked. I work maybe 50 hours for an average week and my first year I made 50K + 35K bonus, second was 60K + 50K bonus and this year (I'm now an "associate") I'm at 100K + probably a 50K bonus.
This is pre MBA.
Where are you working to make these numbers? What city?
That's actually really good, I assume you work at one of the big developers? Although I would think the non-Tishman/Related's of the world though would be pretty low, no?
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