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Probably the best (and hardest to break into) starting point would be true REIB (entity level capital raising/M&A) at an Eastdil or HFF. Other than that debt/equity placement is probably the best bet followed by I-sales.
By and large the particular group is still more important than the actual position. Doing I-sales for billion dollar transactions is going to come off more impressive than $5mm debt placements.
What do you think about the move from valuations to REPE?
What skills in IS are transferable to REPE?
Thanks man
A good I-sales broker is able to understand an investor's perspective and strategy and pick out good deals for them. This is valuable on the buy-side for obvious reasons. They also have more access to non-public market knowledge than anyone in the industry. There are also thousands of shitty brokers who do nothing but email blast anyone with a pulse OMs for $200K single-family trap houses in the hood of Baltimore. That probably is not going to help you get as good of a REPE job.
Valuations is transferable as well, but there is nuance to these things. If you're appraising crappy single-family homes in blighted neighborhoods you're not going to get an interview for an open Acquisitions spot at Blackstone. On the other hand, if you're at Deloitte doing RE valuation & advisory for top tier clients, you can definitely leverage that to get to a REPE shop.
In general in Real Estate, the best information for you to know is that you can take a much more staggered trajectory towards your end goal than you can in other finance careers. If you want to work for a decent LBO PE shop you pretty much have to go Target School -> BB/EB Bank -> Top Headhunter Recruitment Process -> Decent PE fund. In Real Estate you can bounce around a bit more and find a way to get your foot in the door eventually and gather enough experience through odd jobs that you can land at a solid REPE firm without being a golden child.
I went from tenant rep brokerage at a small regional brokerage to acquisitions analyst at a value-add MF shop to an investment analyst at a true REPE. If you are willing to work for under market pay someone will give you a shot.
Not trying to come off as a dick but this topic has been discussed ad-nauseum. There are some in the camp that starting out in 'REIB' is better. Some think that investment sales on a solid team is better (I'm in this camp). Some people differ on what a 'REIB' even is. People think that Eastdil is 'REIB' since they are owned by WF, but by and large a lot of the teams there do the exact same thing as the investment sales brokers at a CB, JLL, etc. A lot of the teams only do 1-2 true M&A/recap type deals a year, so the bread and butter is still individual or portfolio property sales (aka not entity level deals). With the JLL/HFF merger it's going to become even more convoluted. Both tracks can easily get you where you want to go.
Eastdil has dedicated REIB teams that sit in NYC, Santa Monica, DC and I think a couple of people in SF. They effectively serve as Wells Fargo Securities' Real Estate sector group and do not work on individual asset sales (they do sell the occasional portfolio). Contrary to popular belief this is true IB (M&A, DCM, ETC) not over glorified brokerage. Yes, Eastdil does very well in IS and DP but I can confirm to you that these are completely separate groups.
Understood, just want to make it clear that a large majority of the teams you hear about/that get the press on here are not the REIB folks.
I completely agree with you on this point. If I had a dollar for every low-level debt placement broker I heard call themself a "Real Estate Investment Banker" I would be my own boss.
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