Have 1 year of dev experience at MCR in a Southeast market. Also have a MSRED. Looking to move to REPE in NYC and wondering how I can go about targeting these roles. Cold email and applying on LinkedIn is what I can think of doing now as I don't have much of a network there. Also, how would my experience be viewed and can I come in as an associate.
| +48 | Being asked to stay behind and train my replacement | 14 | 3d | |
| +45 | New Comp Database - Google Form (Now with Data Validation) | 24 | 6h | |
| +30 | What does REPE actually do? | 12 | 1d | |
| +26 | Leave brokerage to be GP | 2 | 30m | |
| +24 | Seeking Career Guidance in Real Estate Development Post-Graduation | 3 | 9h | |
| +24 | Public Homebuilders | 9 | 1d | |
| +22 | REPE/Development GPA | 15 | 1d | |
| +17 | MSRE/MSRED with no RE experience; Naive to think I’ll land a job afterwards? | 4 | 3d | |
| +16 | UC Berkeley MRED vs Columbia MSRED? | 2 | 5d | |
| +15 | Hospitality Finance - Perks? | 3 | 6d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Going to be tough to be honest. What are you doing over there? Development or acquisitions or both? Overall, one year of at a development shop isn’t much in terms of experience for a REPE associate.
Don’t get me wrong as there are definitely shops that will look at you, but without being in the market and alumni base it will be tough to break in.
Agree with you about 1 year being light in terms of YOE. I’m on a regional team so we focus on both land acquisitions and development management. Given that a lot of what we do is merchant build, we have a ton of volume and are acquiring / sourcing more deal flow than a mega developer would per say. Point of saying that is to share that my experience (albeit limited) is spread across acquisitions, structuring JVs with capital partners, and executing the development itself. I did go to a target school in the NE for undegrad if that helps so alumni base is something to lever through cold out reach.
Solid exp. 2 years would be better but think you’re fine. Will likely stay on LP side of biz my whole career b/c I think it has superior risk adjusted pay, but wish I had boots on the ground dev experience like you.
Curious why you would want to leave
First off, want to be in NYC. Secondly, want to make some more money. That really is it. I love the nature of the work and my team. More so just want to satisfy my personal desires of living in NYC as well. Also would be very happy to stay in development and just move to NYC. I’m in a smaller SE market and just find the overall networking and relationship building outside of work to be minimal. I’d like to be in a larger RE community where I can expand my network and explore a larger variety of opportunities by virtue of being in a city that is conducive to that.
yes you will make more money but please understand everything else is extremely expensive in comparison to the southeast (ie. rent, food, going out). Dont be surpised if you make the move and find yourself making more but not saving more.
Agreed. Interned in the city for a summer and my budget was torn to shreds. Still think it’s worth it while I’m young. Networking opps, dating scene, lifestyle is all something Im willing to pay the incremental dollars for.
To add on to this...started my career in NYC, eventually headed back to the Southwest. My first year back, had the same exact total comp, but took home (saved) over 60% more due to COL and taxes. I was lucky to get the exact same total comp as my NYC role, and although COL has increased fairly rapidly in my new city, I would say the delta still has to be 40%+.
Secondly, I always encourage people to be thoughtful about where they live and its impact on mental health. Don't get me wrong, NYC was a ton of fun as a young single guy, but I grew up in the southwest and was used to a "chiller" cultural vibe and a much more active, outdoor-based lifestyle. I lost sight of that during my college years in the northeast and thought it was NYC or bust.
Retrospectively, having easy access to things like mountain biking/4x4 trails, camping, and astrophotography is far more rewarding for me, and combined with more wiggle room in my personal finances, resulted in a significant improvement to my mental health. Working long hours, partying my ass off, blowing tons of cash, and trying to get laid in the city was fun, but ultimately was unhealthy for me and took me down a deep rabbit hole of indulgence. No regrets though.
Well, maybe a few regrets...
Did something very similar. Definitely reach out to as many people as possible: alumni network, people with similar jobs 3-5 years older, recruiters, etc. You will most likely be starting over as an analyst (I did after 1 year dev -> repe) but that’s not a bad thing. Mill creek is a great shop but it would certainly help so get another year of experience. I was getting plenty of looks and ultimately ended with a few offers in the nyc area with 2 years experience at repe in a smaller market and different geography
Feel free to dm if you like
Do you think it’d better to gather another year of experience here and then make the jump? If so, I don’t mind given the fact that many repe shops seemed to have somewhat slowed down. However, we still continue to acquire sites and have more than enough projects under development to keep me busy until things stabilize. It may be better to gain another year of experience and try jumping when the job market is a bit stronger ?
yes absolutely, you’re gonna have noticeably more options with another year. It’s fair to say acquisitions is going to be slowing down at a lot of shops because right now there’s a pretty large mismatch on pricing. more opportunistic or distressed funds should get active soon, but in general I’m sure there may be more asset management roles available for the time being. Candidly I’m not sure how much this changes in the next year but I guess we’ll see.
Also re: your comments above, I couldn’t agree more. The lifestyle, dating scene, culture, etc in nyc blow any other city out of the water. I’m actually saving considerably less than I was in the SE but that’s the price you pay for living life and I regret absolutely none of it
Gonna be honest you would not get looks for an associate role. Would have to start as analyst or senior analyst. From my experience most shops target 3-4 years exp. For associates.
Exactly, I agree. That’s why I think I should leave as soon as possible, rather than wait for the two year mark. No point of waiting and getting another year of experience when I have to restart as an analyst
Agreed. If you can find a new gig that you like and see yourself sticking in for a while, id go for it.
Et est tenetur eos quasi corrupti. Dolorum deleniti atque corrupti adipisci pariatur vel. Aut eos excepturi harum ut.
Sequi porro ea veniam cum maiores quidem. Et et nam reiciendis odit sed laborum. Tenetur facere natus rem. Et qui aliquid qui est. Et corrupti perspiciatis natus aperiam. Et deleniti maxime ab. Qui minima ut ut libero et odio.
Et ut quod aut distinctio est. Qui quasi tenetur nihil voluptatem. Non molestias sed consequatur qui.
Nihil in quaerat harum aut asperiores earum a. Esse ut occaecati mollitia iste dolorem quos voluptatem. Veritatis vero alias vel non. Id voluptatibus labore fugiat similique.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...