MSRE or Family Business
Hello all. First post here hoping you guys can help me out.
I am in my mid 20s and come from finance background working in wealth management. During Covid, ultimately left the firm to help out the family business which is a retail shop for flooring and other building materials. Since then, with the help of the current family business connections was actually able to expand the business and start my own spin off which is more on the wholesale side of the industry. Essentially buying building material from overseas in bulk and trying to distribute it to other retail stores, architects, and developers along the Northeast . About 2 years into it and the spin off is slowing growing. Pay is solid and WLB is great as I am pretty much my own boss.
Maybe I am being my own biggest critic here, but unless this spin off really takes off not sure if I can make the type of pay that you can make in PE, Finance, Real Estate, ect. My backup plan would be to maybe try getting a Masters in Real Estate or RE Development. I figure that the mix of finance background with owning a building suppliers company can go hand in hand. Should I stick this out and see where this can take me, or look into programs? I don't want to turn 30 and then decide to go back to school if things don't work out and it becomes more difficult as life picks up and a Masters program's seems quicker and less expensive than MBA. Thanks.
Hard to advise because I don't know how successful your family business is and I don't know the growth potential, so I don't know what your opportunity cost is by pursuing an MSRE/development job. I do think you would be a good candidate for an MSRE though if you are trying to pursue development roles. Would it be feasible to work for developer and run your family business on the side/with the help of your family so that you get the best of both worlds? I've also seen suppliers similar to you start doing their own small development deals, so that is also always a possibility in the future either with or without an MSRE.
Thanks for the comment. I suppose I am at a bit of a crossroads as a young professional. The longer I give this spin off/start up a shot I feel the window to get back into some sort of finance type role gets smaller and smaller. I believe that I can definitely still work in the business especially as I go back to school. Development seems more likely but would even like to consider acquisitions type of roles if possible. Your comment made me feel somewhat relived that I would still have a chance to get back into the cooperate world in some way if I decide to change paths after giving this a try.
The two paths don't have to be mutually exclusive. Some MSRE/D programs either provide a part-time pursuit option, or even encourage it. For example, many graduate students in the MSRE/D programs at NYU Schack are part-time students. The classes are mostly offered in the evenings and are scheduled to accommodate folks who have full-time careers. Since you are targeting the Northeast for your supplier business, perhaps that's where you live and NYU Schack might be a strong option to look into.
If you got to the point in PWM where you were sourcing investors that might be useful if you eventually want to put together your own RE deals and syndicate them. However, the financial modeling experience you have developed is likely not very useful, so you would have to find a way to bridge that gap in your knowledge. You could do that either through one of the aforementioned MSRE/D programs, or by completing one of the various RE online modeling bootcamps, like A.CRE, REFM, etc.
Bear in mind a lot of people in RE make a lot less money than they would in comparable positions in "high finance," until/unless they end up having a more entrepreneurial role and can benefit from promote, success fees, etc. You already find yourself in that position with your own business. I think the best way forward for you would be to figure out how to scale your existing business and get closer to the real estate investment business over time. For example, maybe you scale a bit more as a supplier, start partnering with one or more GCs, and then move closer to a development role over time. If you do that and vertically integrate, you will be in a very advantageous position as a developer.
So to summarize: scale up your existing business, keep moving one step closer to real estate investment by starting to partner up with the right people as you expand your capabilities set, and seriously consider a part-time MSRE/D program that you can pursue concurrently.
Thank you. All great points. I think in my head I am trying to decide if is one or the other.... pretty much asking myself if I continue to work on this or just go back to school and do a career reset brining my relevant skills to some sort of RE firm. NYU is probably my top option that I have considered so far.
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