What are the main differences between Real Estate Investment Banks and Real Estate Investment Firms?

I know that REIBs do not deal at the property level, but are there more distinctions? From what I am reading, they seem to do very similar work (m&a advisory, capital raising, etc.) 

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so, first.... there is no rule that says REIB desk can't or don't work on property level. Some can/do, especially if a 'portfolio' or complex single asset. Still, you are right in that the classic REIB desk at a traditional bank will send such loans to a real estate desk in the commercial ban (property level lending is generally a commercial banking activity), BUT some CMBS loans could be done in the I-bank or a specialized unit.

To the main question REIB vs REIM..

REIB = sellside service (fee for service in the examples of M&A advisory and cap raising.. essentially glorified broker work), REIBs can also use balance sheet as "underwriters" when issuing (fancy way of saying selling) stocks/bonds or other securities. 

REIM = buyside service, they actually manage funds of third parties (and the firm/owners potentially), thus they are the "clients" of the REIB types. They earn fees from acquisition/disposition fees, asset management fees, and incentive fees (promotes/carry) based on deal/fund performance (not level of investment). 

What can confuse people is that many large BB banks have both REIB operations and REIM (usually called Asset Management or something like that), and some even have large, integrated "real estate teams" that share people and resources (not as common as it used to be). 

So the TL:DR... REIB=Sellside, REIM=Buyside 

 

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