Interview at CBRE and have to take test, advice?

Hello, I have to take a test for an interview as a financial analyst at CBRE. Does anyone have any advice on what is asked in the test? It's a "real estate and finance" test, while I'm comfortable with both areas, this is a very broad description and I was hoping someone could help me narrow down what I should refresh myself on. Thanks!

71 Comments
 

Investment properties - commercial real estate. Is that specific enough?

EDIT - they also advised the test should take 1 hour.

 
Best Response

Make sure you refer to them as "The Big Green Machine" at every opportunity. Guaranteed bonus points.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Apologies if I am piggybacking on this thread but are these types of tests feasible for someone who has no analytic experience, no RE experience but has a CRE financial certificate from a CCIM financial course?

(Yes, I am referring to myself but may pertain to others)

 

HandsOfMidas what did the course generally cover? I would assume since this came from CCIM it went over cap rates (entry and terminal), IRR, PV of cash flows & FV, NOI, ect. If that's the case then you should be able to navigate that kind of test.

If you're interviewing for a financial analyst position with a brokerage (also note CB does more than just sell and lease shit, they also manage investments/properties so the analytical work can get much more extensive depending on the group your interviewing for inside CB) then a basic understanding of the fundamentals is what they're looking for, you can build and teach on that.

 

@TheCREHermes the course was 101 Financial Analysis. It did cover cap rates (not sure entry/terminal), IRR, PV of cash flows, FV, and NOI. However, they never broke down the equations, so I was essentially using my financial calculator's PV, IRR, FV etc. buttons.

 
"HandsOfMidas"

@TheCREHermes the course was 101 Financial Analysis. It did cover cap rates (not sure entry/terminal), IRR, PV of cash flows, FV, and NOI. However, they never broke down the equations, so I was essentially using my financial calculator's PV, IRR, FV etc. buttons.

Honestly, 99% of the time you will never use the equations anyhow and the fact that you can do the problems on your HP12C (in addition to Excel I assume) makes you more than capable.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

100% agree with CRE on 99% it is not used in that most of the time I already have some sort of model made for this. What's important is to understand how these formulas work and their different parts. This really helps when you're evaluating someone's cash flow model and if somethings broken/wrong and you can quickly fix it.

 

Is your test with the Financial Consulting Group or a brokerage team within CBRE?

 

I have an assessment test for the financial consulting group coming up on nov. 17, 2017. Any tips for studying?

Please DM me for specific criteria on the assessment.

 

I don't know what's on the test. I always saw kids in the conference room be given a test on paper and a financial calculator. Probably very standard finance and real estate concepts.

 

I heard first hand that entry level pay ranges from $50-75k depending on experience & negotiation (Plus bonuses - which are based on total hours worked by the overall team).

Could walk out of the first year with as little as $62k - $80k, depending on your performance and if it's a good year for the team.

 

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