Real Estate Career Crisis!! (Any Advice is Appreciated)
Hi Everyone,
A little background on me first. I am a 20-year-old college student (male), currently a junior, and getting my degree in Business: Real Estate Finance from Cal State Fullerton. I am also currently working as a commercial real estate broker for a small boutique brokerage firm in Orange County, CA (well-known/ respected in the area but only has about 14 brokers). As a broker, I specialize in selling large industrial properties that are over $20M+ off-market to institutional investors/ developers such as Rexford, Goodman, Clarion Partners, Prologis, etc. My mentor has been in the business for over 20 years and has helped me build a lot of these relationships with these institutional buyers. I am also the Vice President of my university's Real Estate Association which has about 80+ active members, am a board member of SoCal CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) where I am the Student Outreach Chair, and have completed 7 CCIM courses which are considered some of the best in the industry. (don't have my CCIM designation yet).
Now here is my issue. I have been a broker for about 21 months now and have not sold anything yet. The only reason I've been able to stay alive is that my parents are well off and are willing to pay for all my expenses during this time, which I am very grateful for. Obviously, I am aware that dealing in the institutional space with $20M+ industrial properties is very competitive since I am competing directly with the top brokerage teams in the Country/ World. My strategy is to basically find an off-market industrial property that is $20M+, see if the owner is open to seeing an offer, and then bring the opportunity to an institutional buyer where they protect my commission if a sale occurs. So far, I have submitted about 15 offers, 11 didn't go anywhere, 1 signed LOI at ($35M) with PSA currently in negotiation, 1 offer where the owner will choose between either ours or one other buyer within the next month ($140M), and 2 other offers currently under review by ownership ($23M & $105M).
My worry is that if none of these deals go through, which is very possible, then I will be a broker for 2 years that hasn't sold anything and has 0 transaction volume. I worry that if I then decide to go get a career in real estate acquisitions, development, private equity, etc. I will be viewed as a failure of a broker from a small boutique firm, and nobody would want to hire me despite my experience/ knowledge/ industry involvement. So, am I being paranoid or is this a possibility? Also, my original plan was to just stick it out in brokerage till I graduate college in 1 1/2 years, and then decide if brokerage is going to work or just jump ship to another real estate career. But then I think, if I don't sell anything in the next 1 1/2 years will that just make my situation worse, or should I just get ahead and jump ship now? I apologize if this was a little long. Again, I'm 20 years old and would really appreciate some advice from people more experienced/ wiser than me.
My advice is to pursue a career in the part of the industry you enjoy most. You have a long time to grow and become successful in whichever field you choose. Dedicate yourself to whatever that is now and you’ll be fine!
2nd year analyst at a REPE shop so maybe not the seniority you would want, but the best advice I think anyone could give you right now is to take a deep breath and relax. Reading through your post and the details you provide, it seems to me you are a bit obsessive about this. That of course can be a good thing, but in this instance I think it is to your detriment and is actively working against you.
As to your questions / concerns… no REPE shop or IS team (or whoever) is going to ding a 20 year old part time broker who still hasn’t graduated from undergrad yet for not being able to sell $20M+ properties to some of the largest entities in RE. You are going to be fine and frankly, I think the best thing you can do for your career at this moment is build some habits / strategies to help you cope with stress. Careers aren’t defined by a first job or an analyst stint… let alone a job taken by someone who hasn’t graduated undergrad yet, so try your best to relax and enjoy the ride. The rest will fall into place.
When we are hiring analysts they typically are straight from UG where they only had an internship or two (sometimes at a brokerage other times at a REPE/Dev) or people that come from IS teams as analysts. We, or least I, have never dinged someone if they hadn't completed a transaction while 20 years old and in college so they are only working part time. You can spin it as more of an internship-type experience on steroids by working and leading live deals while a 20 year old in college, and from the sounds of it you've been doing it since before you were 20.
You have plenty of club activities, experience in the industry, and clearly passion for real estate. I would just give you the advice to breathe and relax and just enjoy yourself without putting too much stress on yourself about getting a job in 2 years. Long-time established brokers are struggling right now since deal flow is so low, so no one is expecting you to close on an institutional asset (but if you did then that would be fantastic) while so green. If you enjoy being a broker then spend the next 1.5-2 years or so and pursue it while you finish your degree and then you can make the decision about acquisitions/capital markets/development if you want to switch at that time.
Okay, I saw the headline of "career crisis" and tbh, totally expected a story of layoff or something like that (maybe a "failed" recruiting cycle or whatever). Then I read the "20-year-old college student" part and am realizing I am totally off base! The good news is this...... This is not a story of "career failure" BUT "career success"! Seriously!
- Dude, this is painful, but good experience, you probably know more about the business than 99% of 20 year olds (and by math of doing for 21 months means you started at 18...), and can (and probably) will outkick the careers of many who go to 'target' prestige schools, but your path may look different (or similar, who knows). (I say this as your 'start' is oddly similar to my own tbh)
- You could continue trying this 'off-market' brokerage game, and you may score some points, but it is very difficult. Is this best for a long-term career? Probably not, this will be just a college gig either way, I'd guess unless you score some serious volume (which is not impossible, but not probable), I'd guess this job will just be an 'internship' on your resume as you graduate and then deleted ~five years post graduation like many do to save space (or reduced to a single line of stuff for some period).
- NOBODY will 'ding' you for volume or lack thereof, I mean NOBODY, this can only be positive. You can explain this a million ways positive (even if it feels shitty today, which I'm sure it does). Again, you are 20 and in college, this can just be a very interesting unpaid internship. If you are applying for 'buyside' roles (or anything not sales/brokerage tbh), then you explain how you learned a lot but found you don't like sales! If you are applying for brokerage, you can explain how you value (and need) to be on a team and how difficult it is for a 20 yo to do this business (it is). To both, you have the advantage of blaming 'the market' either way (LOL who doesn't....).
Sooooo, what should you 'do'? I mean what do you want to do???? I see at least three obvious options (and of course there are infinitely more, like joining the Marine Corps or whatever, just sticking with the obvious...).
1. Continue as this 'broker' and make it on/before graduation, and then leave if not (i.e. go back to general job market). Is this a good idea? Not sure, don't know enough, if you are 'tired' of this and want to walk away... then do it. If you want to take a 'break' to do classic summer internships (id recommend at buyside and NOT another brokerage for obvious reasons, like moving your license), I'd sure they'd let you (I mean you are on commissions.... can they stop you??), then resume this during regular term. Basically this is the 'stay on course' option. Note, I'm differentiating this from the below option 3 as I see this as a 'part-time college gig' just fancier and without guaranteed pay, so you keep that way while making school and other things top priority.
2. Drop it, go back to classic student mode, and focus all efforts on new goal (or set of). This can be landing a traditional analyst role or whatever, and doing all the prep while focusing on school (GPA matters for this route). Focus on high quality summer internships, learning excel modeling, Argus, etc. You clearly get networking and student outreach (may I recommend ULI and NAIOP if you want to up the 'institutional game', cheap student memberships...), so keep that up!
3. Go all in for brokerage! Since you have some experience, you could stay with this firm (again, no idea how good or whatever), or try to leverage up onto a team at a bigger/better firm (note, this could be like either option above, but in theory, you don't wait for graduation and skip the other 'internships'). I have heard or seen very few straight out pure commission success stories in commercial real estate. Do they happen... sure, but I mean its really tough. And just being honest, getting people to do "off-market" deals is very very tough. It's a 1 in 100 or even 1 in 1000 game, but yeah there is a market for it. But, and to offend your firm or your mentor, but if this was an awesome business.... Eastdil would do it, but I'm pretty sure they don't. SO.... you have all this energy and time as a 20 year old.... I'd go big or go home, get on a top team and really learn the high-end of the business. I mean, why not at least aim for that. To note, you probably need to graduate to really land that job, and I sure as hell wouldn't leave school to do brokerage, so this is really just option 1 but more intentional.
So, those are my few thoughts! TL:DR, you are way ahead of the game, you just do realize it yet.
Dawg, what? You're 20 years old, in school, doing brokerage on the side, and actually gotten a signed LOI for an off market institutional-sized deal? You've clearly got what it takes to do raw BD. What's working against you currently is you are not in the industry yet full time. Once you join a team or a company full time and have the benefit of focusing on one thing, there will be plenty of casual connections and you will be able to this much more effectively. I'm frankly amazed you've gotten this far already.
If I were a betting man I'd say you'll be fine in brokerage. I know this isn't helpful at all to you but if you give it enough time, subject to the right work ethic (which you clearly have), you will go somewhere. If you're on a reputable team, they will not let you fail.
Finally, as far as job prospects...nobody is going to knock you for an empty deal sheet right out of school. You have solicited over 15 LOIs which gives you a hell of a lot more to talk about than some senior who maybe had a brokerage internship one summer.
You're going to be alright man.
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