Quitting REPE - thoughts on pivoting out of CRE?
For some context, I've been working in REPE for about 3 years now out of college. I've worked at a large firm doing AM across all property types for about 2ish years and now doing multi acq at a very active shop for about 8 months now.
Honestly, both roles are sweaty as hell and i think im at a point where i value WLB ALOT more. I dont get my weekends, I'm working around the clock and my boss is online more than I am. Pressure is so high, high stress and stakes trying to win deals, fire drills to answer late night equity questions, DD tight deadlines, etc.
Not trying to complain or throw a pity party for myself, I know 100s of other high finance professionals have it worse. I have just came to a point where i'm fed up and done with this shit.
I was looking at FP&A, corporate finance and some other consulting roles but have no clue where i would even piviot to and or what to do that has WLB and would take my for my resume. All my experience is CRE, probably should've thought about that before going into the industry lol but I'm here now. I really dont mind something lower paying, I value my physical health, mental health, relationships, and hobbies outside of work rather than sweating away.
Of course i have alot of thoughts and done alot of soul searching with this decision, I'm just trying to make this post concise to get my point across.
Curious to see if anyone has done the same thing?
Have you looked into balance sheet lending? Definitely more chill, and your skills will transfer over easily.
Balance sheet CRE is so boring and you deal with idiots. The bureaucracy is insane at big banks.
Could not agree more. I'm in BS lending at one of the main players and the amount of moron hands in the cookie jar during underwriting/DD is absolutely insane. And the amount of people who literally cannot make a judgement call without referencing policy is nuts. I'm dying to leave and get back to a non-bank lender ASAP.
This. Transferable skills. Very solid pay. But pretty frickin boring.
Totally reasonable to prefer WLB over REPE hours.
I would suggest avoiding consulting though if you want better WLB.
Any thoughts on development? I would say it’s much better WLB than traditional REPE. It’s also intellectually stimulating and a good mix of work.
Depends on the shop. It should be better. It isn't always, especially at the 3 years in level.
Tread carefully with development. Seems sexy but the day to day is much different than many expect. The few shops with money are extremely busy and others have nothing to do based on recent conversations. Layoffs happen constantly pending deal flow and I saw many developers in the 35-40 age range miserable but stuck at the shop due to the idea of promote that more than likely won't come to fruition.
Obviously, there are great shops out there with a ton of runway for somebody 3 years in but do your DD.
Depends if you still like CRE but work at a LifeCo.
This is anecdotal so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve known people who pivoted to a CRE role within larger corporations from REPE/Dev/etc, worked in that facet for a while then pivoted to FPA, IT, or even software engineering within the same company. Could be a path to consider.
Move to an operator/developer.
Generally better WLB and your experience will be viewed as highly valuable.
What kind of "large REPE shop" are you at?
I'm an asset managment associate at a $30b aum REPE firm in a T1 city, also working on all asset classes and across the risk spectrum. I work 40-45 hours a week. Sometimes up to 55-60 during budget season but the average isn't more than 45 hours. I don't need to work weekends or nights if I don't want to. And most VP's and MD's are out the door at 4pm, some of them even 3pm on a regular basis. on Fridays I check out at 3 or 4pm to play golf.
I don't know what your exact experience has been but there are relatively chill jobs in our field.
Lol it’s kind of ironic how my career went. I started at a ~$80B AUM firm as an AM analyst and it was the most chill job fresh out of college. I always wanted to do acquisitions since college so I switched to a sweatier AM role working on distressed downtime office. The technical skills I gained allowed for doors for acquisitions to open, which I ofc took without hesitation. I recently had some life changes and value other things outside of work, which of course doesn’t fit well with demanding job.
Looking back, I wish I stayed at my first job, but I guess that’s just how life goes. I made the decision back then that i thought would be best for me. I’m not too worried since I have a great support system from my family and savings, but still kind of nervous.
Yeah you can easily find CRE jobs with good WLB, its kind of the the biggest perk of the industry IMO. Used to work in an Acq/AM hybrid role for a smaller REPE and the only times I felt slightly burnt out was when I was flying multiple times per week, otherwise it was a pretty standard 9-5 job. Prior to that was at a brokerage shop where people would grind pretty hard monday-thursday but the office would be empty by 3pm on Fridays.
Any chance you’re willing to share comp? AM I’ve heard can have excellent WLB, but I’m in debt originations now, and it feels like AM is a 20-30% discount. BS lender.
For people who have been in debt originations, what have you typically pivoted to?
At some point I feel like i’d want to get the annual production targets off my back and also have a little bit of a better work life balance, but curious what options there would be from there.
PM me if you have interest in staying in REPE. We are looking for someone with roughly your background.
what's the background you're looking for? AM? Blend of AM & Acq? or is it the multi acq you like?
I think for careers, looking back at mine, the market mainly helped me decide what to do next. Assume your shop is just an outlier experience (I know I felt the same way too saying to myself at 11pm at the elevator of the office “I’ll never be an analyst again.”).
I got into development after the GFC recession because it was a natural progression from REPE and there were green shoots for apartment development on the West Coast. I was mainly underemployed during the recession and interviewed for REPE roles (Taft Hartley investor, Starwood), financial analyst for start up (SurveyMonkey), FP&A (Kimpton Hotels, an affordable housing developer), and corporate real estate (Cisco). What landed was a development analyst job at a West Coast apartment REIT, which seemed to have been the best fit looking back.
Sometimes the market guides you. Well, my examples were for 2009-2010.
What if I worked for Starwood or SurveyMonkey or Cisco? Would I be the CFO of Outrigger Resorts, a venture investor at Spectrum Equity after a MBA, or could I become a project manager at NVIDIA? The roles that would keep me in REPE (say the Taft Hartley investor) or in accounting (Kimpton or affordable housing) those paths seem the most traditional. Maybe Kimpton would get me to CFO of Outrigger, but 10 years later. And why Outrigger? Because I’m from Hawaii and they have resorts around the world and especially in Hawaii. There’s a personal attraction.
You need personal attractions. Make a list.
So, just trying to give some real world examples of different trajectories I faced with 3 years of REPE experience and ambition. The “what ifs” and maybe a path resonates more with you.
I went into apartment development then senior housing and mental health housing start ups, to eventually something in tech. I’m able to craft a story looking backwards, but in the moment in 2010, I was just trying to get a job.
great post. how would you compare today's job market to the one you faced in 2010?
Just from my feelings, today’s job supply/openings are slightly better than in 2010 for CRE. There are more assets and more capital in the system. We didn’t have the kind of liquidity crisis of the GFC, systemically.
Except there are more new workers and experienced workers in the industry in 2026 vs 2010.
Definitely a lot more acquisitions types after the past (long) boom market.
As far as my CRE and untraditional or non-CRE “what if” career paths, I think 2026 is a more interesting time to have skill sets in asset intensity than compared to 2010.
Why?
I live in SF (Silicon Valley). Tech that involves physical, tangible things are becoming more and more prominent.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/real-estate/need-to-vent-about-th…
In my previous post, I see an explosion of asset intense mash up combinations.
In 2010, tech was mostly cloud, social media, SaaS, iPhone; stuff mostly created by software engineers.
I’ve spent the past few weeks in Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guangzhou), and every major mall has a robot store, or two or three. I believe the robot future is coming (I posted about the audiobook Immortal Life by Stanley Bing).
The great thing is there is a long tail of things to become an early expert in. If I had three years of REPE experience, I’d pick a fun sector and combine my CRE experience with emerging business models.
Many thanks for the insight! Do you mind me DM you for a small advice? I'm about to start my first job in RE Credit buyside at Europe and really hope that I can structure my future like what you said here!
Sure, please DM me. Hope I can help.
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