What do REPE and Developers look for in IS analysts/associates?
I've been on a pretty strong brokerage team in a major market for the past 2-3 years. The team I'm staffed on is one of the top MF teams for CBRE / JLL / Colliers. I've been thinking about moving over to REPE or development lately and wanted to see what are strong traits to have on my resume. I've underwritten and participated in over $2.5B worth of sales in the market and have helped specific clients with acquisitions. Does anyone have any experience with this move?
This was the path I followed. The reality is that you're going to wind up working for a client, which likely means they already know you, the quality of your work product/responses, your market knowledge, and they likely have a general idea of your quantitative chops. Any interview is likely to be purely fit driven ("do we want to be in a foxhole with this yahoo?"). My interviews were all telling stories, talking football, and chopping up a few deals I'd worked on (stuff they had lost out on but had wanted to buy), deals we'd worked on together, deals we were marketing that they were looking at, deals they were working on that I didn't know about, markets we liked, product type we liked, who we all in the industry we thought was a dickhead, and would my bosses crucify them if I left... you get the picture. All that said, I had worked on deals with these people for a couple of years, and we'd both sort of pre-screened one another. It was all just a confirmation of what both sides already knew.
Unless someone has their panties in a wad to hire an investment banking analyst or an MBA, you should have a pretty easy time finding a spot on the principal side. I'm biased but I like your background and think it is the best starting point in real estate.
I’ve only worked at the “panties in a wad” places (IB/MBA backgrounds) as I can’t think of one analyst/associate with brokerage background prior. However, I’ve worked with brokerages with great analysts for dispositions and acquisitions - so I think the background is great and I like the hustle. I like the wide lens.
To overcome the “panties” problem, I would emphasize the following:
prior or current experience on buy-side thinking: many times buyside thinks the broker’s numbers are not accurate. I think in an interview you be very discerning and be able to rank deals on relative attractiveness and why. Show me you have a well articulated reason vs buy buy buy sell sell sell. There is an inherent skepticism (Some) buyside folks have of sellside, because you think you are not being told everything. Break through. Talk / think about risks more (I say this often on WSO).
the waterfall: this might be an issue for the debt guys too; there are property level modeling and then investor level. That’s said I don’t know too many 1-3 years out of college would-be analysts who know everything so not that important. Work on this.
deal flow, geographic diversity, product type diversity: I say this over and over on here. That is the trifecta, early in your career and it will serve you well later too.
relationships with old brokerage firm: can’t emphasize this enough
work ethic: would you run through a wall to get it done; your recommendation from your boss should speak to that
nerd: there may be some us vs them going on. Brokerage seems to be a different personality as buyside (perceptions sometimes). However on the analyst level, should be similar to buyside (crank artist/monkey) but clumped in with the sector.