Underwriting Process

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I ask this question to see how someone thinks about real estate.  I want the person whose first thought is "do I like this real estate?", I then want their second thought to be "is this a fit for our capital or capital we could potentially access", what is going on in this market and submarket and how does this deal fit into this on a relative basis, and then I want them to get down to the business of pencilling the deal on the back of a napkin.  I'm screening for the filtering ability and their ability to assess real estate and to do so thoughtfully, quickly, and without wasting a bunch of time on shit that doesn't hunt. 

That's my personal view, but someone may also want you to walk them through the soup to nuts of "OM comes in and I pull comps, sort the rent roll, come up with some .assumptions, call my debt guy, etc."

If someone asks me what do you do when an OM comes in and you are interviewing for an analyst position, I personally think the answer begins with: looking through the deal, begin understanding the notes to cash flow, go through the OM and note major potential capital items, get your questions together to send to the broker, go determine if you can finance the asset and at what rates, pull sales and rent comps, and than while doing this, you can mention how you also need to zoom out and understand if this fits the capital needs of the firm, and how. But as an analyst, you probably aren't expected to be thinking of it because you aren't sourcing deals.