Real Estate Prospects

I know I want a career in real estate, but i'm not sure where to start it off. I love acquisitions, private equity, and the idea of developing communities. Pretty much, I am in between recruiting for IB, PE, or a development shop. In the future, I want to be able to do large builds like those BTR communities, or commercial real estate. I think any type of exposure would be valuable. I know capital would be an issue to get started in your own projects, but I am confident if I have a good reputation/solid experience then I could raise capital and execute. Any advice on where to start?

 
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So I'm going to assume that the IB and PE shops are all real estate focused, otherwise you would have a much bigger decision on your hands if you're deciding between corporate finance and CRE. Anyways, here's a couple thoughts on your situation:

1. There are REPE shops that do developments, and development shops with robust acquisitions pipelines. It's rarely 100% of 1 or the other. If you like the idea of both, then look for companies that do both. You can really break down most companies by Investment Team and Asset Management Teams so just look for investment analyst roles. 

2. You seemingly focus on building communities and BTR product so this might seem obvious, but look for companies that specialize in BTR and other multifamily product. Not to say that working with other asset classes as an entry job is bad since you can always lateral shops later to an asset you think is more interesting. 

3. If your end goal is to do development projects on your own, then it would logically make sense to work at a developer and get exposure to that. If you want to buy and renovate properties on your own then a pure acquisitions role is where you'd want to go. 

4. To start, look for internships at REPE/Dev shops and hope for a return offer (probably the easiest path to a FT offer). If you can't land a FT offer straight out of UG to a buy-side role then you can look to brokerages as a financial analyst to get deal experience and fine tuning your underwriting skills for a couple years and then go to a buy side role. 

 

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