Starting a Real Estate brokerage

Hey... 


So, I'm working with some friends I used to work with in private equity and a few other brokers to open a brokerage firm. We're all currently located across the country and are looking to co-locate somewhere.  As you can imagine, everyone thinks their hometown is best (well, not the Detroit guy, but office space is cheap there). We're planning on working on national retail and industrial assets -- probably for the larger family office/institutional side. 

So, the questions are as follows: 

1.) Which city do you think is best to open our first office? Current list is:

  • Newport Beach, CA
  • Century City, CA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Birmingham, MI
  • Bloomfield Hills, MI
  • New York, NY
  • Boston, MA

2.) We're currently torn on the vibe of the firm. 90% of us come from stuffy finance firms so we're pretty comfortable with that. However, there's definitely some interest in giving the firm a more friendly, start-up vibe. We're thinking of this from a client's perspective, recruiting standpoint, and a personal sanity viewpoint. What's your thoughts?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

As far as Office, that question is nearly unanswerable as it's going to depend entirely on where most of your business will come from.

As for the culture, I couldn't care less what your office does when I'm not there. Personally I favor the more casual approach, but there are definitely some old timers who value the suit/tie or at least business casual aesthetic. Our firm is more casual unless we have clients coming, which has seemed to work well.

Edit: I'm personally biased toward the west coast so I would open in CC/Newport for the lifestyle/weather, but again really matters more where your clients are going to be.

 

Veniam cumque nihil maxime nesciunt qui aut. Ratione voluptas quo voluptatibus et. Velit et fuga molestiae doloribus. Tempora nihil deserunt voluptas excepturi.

Facilis id vitae autem sed autem quasi delectus. Enim impedit ipsa exercitationem. Excepturi quae incidunt aut dolores iure. Sed hic facere enim asperiores. Aperiam qui quis dolorum aut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”