REPE or bust?

Hey all,

Wanted to make a post to both talk about what my current situation is and hopefully also offer some encouragement for those who are job hunting.

I started my career not knowing what I wanted to do and made the jump to CRE largely by accident. Started off in FP&A at a developer, went and did corporate real estate (managing leasing cycles, buildouts, etc) for an end-user (biglaw firm) and knew I wanted to get deeper into the investment end of the business but was failing miserably at my attempts to network into an asset management or acquisitions role.

So, I started the MSRE program at Schack. Convinced a small MM REPE firm to take a chance on me in an acquisitions role (making peanuts) and then got the chance to jump to a very well known (in nyc anyway) boutique debt/equity brokerage. Wanted the chance to learn how to work on large/complicated/highly structured transactions. Was hoping to get a promotion/ be offered the chance to stay beyond graduation or pivot into REPE acquisitions or hybrid acquisitions / asset management roles.

March happened and got laid off in April. No deal flow, cutting expenses, I'm the only analyst who isn't a third generation sponsor, etc,etc. Beat down the doors at other brokerages and while there is some hiring on the debt side, saw that the equity side (at least outside of the west coast) looked pretty dead. And then, out of nowhere, I got a pretty through the market offer to be in capital markets at a single-family home builder (think Lennar/Pulte sized).

Brings me to current scenario. I'm basically continuing to job hunt and looking to see if perhaps hiring on the equity side picks up a bit once 2021 budgets get approved as my goal isn't really to climb the ladder at a homebuilder. Any advice on the hunt and insight on the market would be appreciated. Also want to provide some hope to those unemployed that if you're willing to expand beyond the role that you're specifically targeting, there may be some opportunity out there.