International Career in RE
Background: Acquisition Analyst in Europe
RE being RE, any stories/insights from people that have worked around the globe? Interested in hearing about this as the replies here are usually about local players who have never left a certain area etc. Is international experience appreciated? Are people with intl experience better/worse off than people that have stayed in same country/area? Are international RE careers even worth considering?
tbh, if you are doing "property or market level" work... I think this is pretty difficult. I am in NYC, and really can't even think of many people who have done this in the very traditional acq/am/brokerage world, sure they exist... just never see them!
It does exist at more the corporate level of big firms and in the roles like capital markets, research/strategy, fund management, etc... essentially stuff that is not property/market specific. Still, not terribly common, but know people who have gone from US to Europe/Asia and back.
If you really want to "hop" countries, easier in the world of finance/banking for sure. To note, part of the difficulty is getting work visas.... "real estate" doesn't qualify very easily in most countries. Working as an "ex-pat" for a firm based in your home country is probably the easiest way (IMHO).
Currently covering 4 markets for our fund so have/will have experience of intl deals etc. I want to stay in real estate/real assets so I think global funds are the only option unless I want to stay in a geography for longer.
Would be interesting to here more, but as you said, not many people job hopping globally in RE :)
tbh... I think there are many people who have jobs for international platforms, work on int'l deals, raise/manage money globally etc. They do all this from the HQ in their home market (mainly in the big cities like, NYC, LON, LA, SF, CHI, HK, etc). So, if you mean "int'l career" like that... where you stay home based but get the passport stamps and off-hour phone calls otherwise... that is far easier to do.
I know tons of people in NYC firms doing that sort of stuff (at least did a lot of global travel pre-covid). I have a quasi-role like that since my firm is int'l but my focus is US, but still need to visit other countries a few times a year for meetings (well, pre-covid did). If that is what you want... the int'l business travel job/lifestyle... much easier to get. NO visa issues (the Chinese visa in my passport feels like it won't get any more use at this rate lol), but it isn't as glamorous as people think it is IMHO.
I worked in Europe for a year at a small REPE firm, then Covid hit and I moved back to the US. Majority of Euro countries will pick candidates from their country because they want an employee who they know will stay, will get along with the rest of the team (same culture), and speaks the language. I didn't work in the London/Paris, which may be different because its a big city type of RE, but if you are looking at like Germany/Scandanavia it's an uphill battle. Once you get in it's fine, you'll move up as quickly as everyone else.
One thing to consider is it's less mobile unless you were at a big firm in Paris/London. When returning to the US it was really difficult to land at a bigger firm, and your experience isn't valued as much. Your best bet is to find a big enough firm where you are at with multiple offices and try to move to different offices interfirm.
Did you enjoy living in Europe? I'm European and would'nt mind working over there in the US for the experience so interested in hearing your comparison.
Resort development can be international. We've developed or looked at deals in most destination countries. International experience is valued on the acq. side and we hire a local team to execute the business plan. I love the international exposure...never get bored.
Wow sounds pretty ideal! Will have to keep this in mind when looking to switch. How many travel days do you have in a year?
When you say you hire a local team to execute, do you mean all development responsibilities or just CM work? I'm very interested in doing development for hospitality and think international resort development is fascinating, but am curious what kind of work is being done State-side versus locally.
Acquisitions teams in the corporate and travel to the site for initial review, tour cap partners, prospects (for the residences). Usually and internal VP level development person moves on-site and manages a team of local DM/CMs. A lot of those guys move from project location to project location every 5 years.
Travel about 50% of the time
Have only done a couple of dev cases, but could definitely be of interest. Any big names I should look into? Thanks!
Athens Group, Replay Resorts, East West Partners, Discovery Land Company, DMB, Timbers...plus a lot of no name SPE's. The deals can easily be north a $1B so its the only project the SPE will work on.
Domestic income used in foreign markets can be very profitable. I have experience in Latin America, however you must be very mindful of the laws about foreign property ownership. Also if you don't speak the language you will need a designated chief of staff in that region to handle stuff for you.
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