Skills Needed to Break Into Acquisitions at REIT or PE Firm?

Can anyone comment on skills needed to break into an acquisitions role at a REIT or at a PE firm?

I'm currently a 2nd year analyst with a small LIHTC developer. Creating a plan on the skills needed to move into acquisitions at a REIT or PE firm in 1-2 years.

Skills/Experience I Currently Have: Intermediate/Advance Excel, Financial Modeling, Real Estate Contracts, Underwriting, General Brokerage (worked at M&M as assistant while in college).

Skills/Experience Still Needed: Expert Excel (Macros, Pivot Tables, etc.), Argus, SQL

I'm currently taking classes on these one-by-one on Udemy. Any other skills I should acquire, and best ways to learn them?

Also, thoughts on importance of MBA or MRED vs 2-3 years of RE Development/Financial Analysis Experience?

106 WSO Academy Real Estate Session Reviews: 4.91/5

Class of '29 Sep 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Career Roadmap (optional)

“Nick was extremely informative and gave me a lot of solid and practical advice. He answered all of my questions clearly and thoughtfully. I really appreciated that he gave me an actionable plan for how to approach recruiting and developing my career in general. He was very open about sharing his own experiences. He also gave me helpful perspective on how to differentiate myself during the recruiting process and make my conversations with professionals more meaningful. I feel like I have a clearer understanding of what I should focus on and concrete next steps. This was overall a helpful and valuable conversation. ”

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Mock Interview

“Nick was fantastic. He didn’t just glance at my resume and give me generic advice—he explained exactly why it wasn’t telling the story I wanted it to tell, then helped me figure out how to fix it. He pushed me to be more intentional about how I talk about my experience and gave me concrete steps to prepare for interviews, from tailoring my resume to practicing financial modeling. I also appreciated how candid he was. When I asked about real estate capital markets versus sales and trading, he gave me his honest opinion while being clear about his own perspective. He shared interview guides, answered all my questions, and offered to do a more detailed mock interview if I move forward with JLL. I left with a lot of work to do, but also a much clearer idea of how to do it. I’d absolutely recommend talking with Nick.”

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Skills Needed to Break Into Acquisitions at REIT or PE Firm?

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Skills Needed to Break Into Acquisitions at REIT or PE Firm?

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