Law to Real estate development
Hey,
I was pre-law all of undergrad and decided to switch career paths to real estate around 6 months ago. Ideally, I would love to do acquisitions at a real estate firm and learn development. I graduated with a history major in June and got a 4.0 GPA. I want an MRED from a top school like USC, Berkeley, or NYU. My only real estate-related experience is a DRE, and I have worked as an analyst for 8 months in capital markets. Do I have a chance of getting in now, or do I need more work experience?
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights regarding your situation:
Experience and Background:
MRED Program Insights:
Recommendations:
Personal Judgment:
In summary, while you have a solid academic background and some relevant experience, gaining additional work experience in real estate could enhance your application to top MRED programs and better prepare you for a successful career in real estate development.
Sources: Entry Level Development Roles - MRED Necessary?, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/real-estate/is-georgetown-masters-in-real-estate-for-me?customgpt=1, MSRE vs. MBA decision - looking for opinions based on my situation/interests, Q&A - Georgetown MPSRE Current Student, Career Path - Development or Investments/Acquisitions
May not like my answer here but I wluld 1000% stay the JD route, become a lawyer of any vertical and simply build wealth by investing in real estate. You’ll be FAR more “dangerous” with a law degree than someone who’s an MBA, trust me… you’ll be able to get to partnership at a new firm or $300k salaries much quicker as a lawyer and will never be out of demand, like some excel monkeys are today…
Respectfully disagree with this take. I'm not sure why he would be more "dangerous" with a law degree unless he has at least a couple years experience as a zoning attorney and plans to operate in the same market and even then I'm not sure how useful his zoning attorney experience would be as a developer. The primary use for having a zoning attorney background is to be able to recognize development projects that are ripe for entitlement unless he becomes such a well known zoning attorney that he has the relationships with all the city officials, but that takes years and years of experience, so at that point, you might as well just continue as a zoning attorney. Once you are able to identify a site, then you still need to acquire/finance it. If you are able to do both those things, then you can hire a zoning attorney for the rest.
In regards to receiving a high income, generally speaking, the lawyer occupation is over saturated. To make those mid-six figure salaries you must attend a top law school and have relevant internships. It's not just go to any law school and then make $300k. Furthermore, the hours at those firms are equivalent if not worse to banking. A friend of mine works in corporate restructuring making ~$300k and he works more than the bankers on the deal. Lastly, law isn't for everyone and if you are not interested in it, it is very difficult to "stick it out." Another friend of mine worked for a top patent law firm out of college making similar to what a 1st year banking analyst makes, but he ended up struggling because he wasn't interested in the work. If i recall correctly, the reason he disliked it so much was because of how detail oriented it is. He had to spend hours analyzing the words and phrases used in patents and documents because the way things are worded or phrased could change the entire meaning of the document/patent.
Why would it only be beneficial to be a zoning attorney over any other lawyers field, especially in real estate? Transaction lawyers are super in demand across the board, there are probably 1/100 excel junkey and they make stupid money comparatively…
let’s just do a quick breakdown on career path, hours worked and money brought it, and then how many others their age have the same skill set, since to me, being an excel junky is farrrr more saturated than the lawyer world, especially when you think of partnerships and who brings what to the table in an entrepreneurial route…
analyst: work 3-5 years, make $75-95k and maybe get the associate / sr associate title. No equity, working easily 50-70 hour weeks underwriting and packaging IC materials and basic low level analysis, which is the way it is everywhere. That person after 5 years either now becomes an equity earner or just makes something like $125-150K total comp (these are in expensive cities as well, so barely scraping by). After 5-10 years, there’s literally no guaranty that whatever vertical they’d choose will even be in favor: imagine picking multi, office or retail 5-10 years ago, build an entire careers worth of work experience only to have $0 in equity today, no real deal or capital relationships outside of the current firm, and really no saved up money whatsoever… think about how many people are literally in this position right now…
a lawyer: spends two more years in school, gets hired out of school at $200k+ for a (decently) big law firm, works 60-80 hour weeks on the legal grunt work, and after 3-5 years is making north of $300k for the same exact hours as say an acquisitions associate, while receiving basically double the pay. From there, 3-5 years in, the pivot ability that lawyer has is immensely greater than the excel jockey with no specialized skills besides making math look pretty. Beyond that, that lawyer can immediately become the partner of a firm running the entire transaction, debt/capital raising, development/operating agreements, etc, weeeelllllll beyond any analyst or associate could handle, and at a much cheaper price. Lawyers are the most expensive hourly waged employee in the entire cost stack and can sway GP returns immensely if misappropriated. Lets also say he works 5-10 years to become a partner at that law firm instead of his own shop: he’s making between $500k-1M a year working literally the same exact hours as anyone would starting their own firm. In addition to that: lawyers are not saturated at all, I know MANY lawyers in SoCal who are struggling to hire good talent, all of the usual suspects are going undergrad biz/finance to get into analyst roles quicker, only to be led nowhere mostly and looking to go to MBA to progress…
appreciate the conversation here regardless, Fred.. I think younger folk need to be extremely conscious of these career moves and finding the path less traveled is a better path than joining the heard today…
If I understand correctly, you already graduated and are now working as an analyst for a capital markets group? Is that a current job or does that reflect some previous internship experience? If that is your current job then I'd stick the course, get as much experience as you can and try to lateral. No need for a masters just yet, you're already in the industry. Definitely start networking though and reach out to people who are doing the work you want to be doing, ask them for coffee and understand their work/what it will take for you to lateral.
Agree with this comment. If you are already in RE capital markets then stick with it and continue applying to acquisition/development roles as they arise. Your experience is very relevant and you should be able to lateral from here. if your capital markets job was an internship or if you are no longer there, then an MSRE/MSRED could help as long as you get relevant internships during it. Idk about USC or Berkeley, but as long as you are breathing, you will get into NYU MSRE.
I'm not certain I understand. You aren't in law... you are a college graduate with a BA in History (respect!). So really you're asking if you have a chance at getting a job in real estate or the ability to land a spot in a MRED program. The answer is yes.
The only answer to this question is: only go to law school if your sincere and fully researched goal is to become a licensed and practicing attorney - full stop. It is not an open-ended or default pedigree like an MBA can be (or a few select MS degrees), and the cost of this degree from any marketable stateside law program is easily ~$300k plus. It will also change the way the market objectively sees you generally -- now as a law person (and by default not a numbers person), the way you view the world subjectively (very detail-driven and risk assessing versus bigger picture oriented and opportunity seeking), and you are held to a higher legal standard in several key areas as I believe was already astutely stated by another poster above.
If you want real estate, go after it in terms of getting real world experience. Forget about any further degrees, and focus all your energy on getting real life exposure (the 'king metric' in the industry) and reps. Look at the most successful and entrepreneurial everyday investors and developers: they have massive experience and typically just a BA or BS. There are no cheat-codes in RE and there does not exist a single MS (RE) degree (many of the mentioned major metro 'top ones' like NYU/Cornell/Columbia cost $110k plus and can excise two years out of your life) that will allow you to go to the front of the line post-grad. Get substantive experience, get paid to learn, get reps, make contacts, and build references as soon as possible and keep on grinding.
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