As in let's say you you work with a REPE firm that only specializes in a certain property type and focuses on a specific major-metro or market (i.e. REPE firm that only invests in multifamily in NYC area). Is the modeling/deal experience on buy-side better all around rather than a debt/lending role that focuses on all property types and/or is not limited geographically?
I'm just thinking about after a couple years wanting to work with a different property type(s) or trying to break into another market.
A lot of that is opinion based. I would always think being on the buy-side or on the side of ownership is better than a debt role, but that doesn't mean it's a universal thought.
The issue with switching cities or property types is never the difficulty level, such as learning to model an office building in ARGUS isn't inherently more difficult than learning to model a MF building in Excel, it's the nuance. You lose so much of the insight you have into various sub-markets and neighborhoods as well as the insight into tiny little things for each property type that are essential but you only know from experience. You can end up taking a step back in knowledge for a while until you catch back up.
I don't mean to say it's impossible. Especially coming out of the recession, a lot of guys who made their money building big box stores shifted to mixed-use town center deals and are now winning ULI innovation awards whereas a decade ago they were the epitome of the sprawl they're now innovating on. Shifting from single-tenant retail with essentially warehouse construction to an absurdly convoluted combination of office, retail, MF, and hotel couldn't have been a cakewalk...so it does happen.