Prospective paths- REPE or Development LDP

I work construction and been exploring an alternate path within the industry and considering REPE, but can't find concrete data on some questions. Would appreciate any insights on REPE and Development LDPs.

  1. Other than prior IB experience, how does one get in? I'm thinking of doing an MBA but not sure if the lack of IB experience would keep me out of most places.

  2. Years of work experience. If go the MBA route, I will have about 3.5 years of experience when I start. I'm assuming I would start at an associate level?

  3. TC - Seems to be around $200k at the associate level in a major city like NY/SF/LA. How much does it differ for cities like DC, Boston or Chicago?

  4. WLB - I read in a recent post that it's on an average 50 hours/week. Is that for analyst or associate level?

I'm not a US citizen so unsure of the development compensations in the states.Thanks in advance!

 
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remonkey95

I work construction and been exploring an alternate path within the industry and considering REPE, but can't find concrete data on some questions. Would appreciate any insights on REPE and Development LDPs.

  1. Other than prior IB experience, how does one get in? I'm thinking of doing an MBA but not sure if the lack of IB experience would keep me out of most places.

  2. Years of work experience. If go the MBA route, I will have about 3.5 years of experience when I start. I'm assuming I would start at an associate level?

  3. TC - Seems to be around $200k at the associate level in a major city like NY/SF/LA. How much does it differ for cities like DC, Boston or Chicago?

  4. WLB - I read in a recent post that it's on an average 50 hours/week. Is that for analyst or associate level?

I'm not a US citizen so unsure of the development compensations in the states.Thanks in advance!

1. LDPs are far and few between. Development shops (in a non-pure acquisitions role) will value your construction knowledge assuming you're not just hard labor. 

2. 3.5 is light for pre-mba so you may have issues getting into your desired programs. Since you're a career switcher there's a decent chance you're an analyst/senior analyst. 

3. That comp is more for PE shops. The secret for that though is if you don't have prior RE/IB experience, that's a very tall hill to climb. In general comp is "it depends". It depends on shop and location. TCC is generally 150k salary (plus idk bonus), while Hines is $130k salary (plus idk bonus). 

4. Again depends on role, shop, and location. Generally speaking, if you're coming from a MBA and going to a competitive shop, expect to work slightly more. It'll ebb and flow.

Here's the biggest qualifier though. If you require sponsorship, Commercial Real Estate is going to be very hard for you to break into post-mba. Given that you'll spend a lot of $ on the program, you're going to want a decent salary. Combining that with sponsorship requirements will be very very difficult. Please do more research on this before committing to the MBA path if you're set on Real Estate. If you're set on Real Estate, then a MRED may be a more cost-effective solution but still please do research on sponsorship and have a very good idea of what's feasible and what's not. 

 
remonkey95

Also is a transition from construction to development really that big to be considered a career switcher? 

My two cents on the above question... 

If you are getting a true, legit development job.. then yes it is a major career switch, closer and similar to the one to "REPE" than you may realize. Development is an investment, buyside business. Being on the equity or debt funding side, is just one step removed. Both are doing same analysis, risk taking, and otherwise in the "real estate biz". Clearly developers will spend a lot of time dealing with lawyers, architects, contractors, engineers, brokers, etc. and must manage all of that (it is at their risk of course!), but opportunistic (and even some value-add) investing isn't that dissimilar (not minimizing the extra work of developers, I can attest for sure!). 

At my firm, people who get hired from construction (not uncommon at all) generally start "at the bottom" like a brand new person. They may get some bump in title if they were very senior in construction and have legit managerial competency and the project they are going on is nearing construction start so that skill has more immediate value. 

There are, however, "construction jobs" at development firms.... getting one of these would not be a career switch... but you also really wouldn't have left construction. Just moved to "owner's rep" from a contractor (you are still the construction person, not a "developer" per se). Now, from one of those roles, could you maneuver into a full/real developer type role? Sure! At smaller firms, this is a legit path. At larger firms, you may be very firewalled and limited. Details are important in such items. 

 

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