Hi All, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. My long-term goal is to work my way up at a top-tier PERE50 firm (something along the lines of Carlyle, Starwood, or Brookfield) and am wondering which of these 2 offers would give me the best prospect at breaking in.
Option 1 is to take a position as an Investment Sales analyst at a top brokerage in my market (think Eastdil, JLL, etc.) and use the position to learn the market, build my network, and get deal exposure.
Option 2 is to take a position as an acquisitions analyst at a small PERE firm that has had some good past performance and growing its AUM pretty quickly. Hopeful the company’s track record continues, and I get to work with a tight-knit group and get some underwriting experience in the process.
I am attracted to option 1 because of the deal exposure and networking opportunities, but option 2 is closer in line with the work I am trying to do in the long-term.
Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks
Take option 2 - many in REPE consider sales brokers to be monkeys.
You want to work at a top REPE firm until you realize the guys who make the most money are the small, local operators who take risk.
it's shop dependent. i work at a small REPE. i source deals, do the modeling, discuss with leadership, etc.
challenge is they want me to go on property tours 2-3 days a week and also do the modeling which is not enough time to all that work!!
when i share a deal with leadership, comps have to read, sales comps have to be ready, have to have modeled the deal to 99% (usually the only change from my analysis is usually that the owner are more aggressive on rents than me). people will fire questions over email or in person to me and i will answer those questions.
i am constantly networking with brokers and owners to learn what is going on in the market. only advantage of a carlyle over a small shop is that you have access to doing the BIGGEST freaking deals and capital is easy. small firms, i have to underwrite 90 deals for us to potentially buy one. can be frustrating but you learn just as much and you are also more hands on. i am dealing with architect, construction team and folks doing the value add improvements. i also get to review LOIs and get really involved in deals. i can do what the big guys do just that my buddies at the bigger shops make more money than me at my level. hopefully that will change soon!