What does the debt side look like?

Hello all. I am relatively new to this forum and I would love to get the community’s insight on a topic that has been on my mind.

For some background, I live in a core market (LA/SF/NYC) and I just graduated from undergrad in 2020. I interned for a top company (CBRE/JLL/CW) on the leasing/brokerage side in June of 2020. I currently intern as an acquisitions analyst at a small but successful multi family acquisitions firm where I am working 40+ hours a week and I am enjoying it. I live in a top

I am not sure if the firm will extend a salaried offer, but I have been thinking of pursuing a full time role as a debt analyst once the internship ends in April. I have heard from others in the field that working on the debt side can be great because as a producer it is less travel/time-consuming than IS and you are not geographically constrained in terms of deals since you can do deals on any asset class and any area. I feel like I may enjoy this side of real estate but I would like to know more about what analysts in this side do and if being a producer in this field is all it’s made out to be.

How would a role as a debt analyst differ from an acquisitions analyst? What are your thoughts of the debt side? What are things I can do to better prepare for this side of real estate?

Any feedback is welcomed. Thank you!

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Never been in acquisitions but from a debt perspective, I personally think they are more similar than different. You churn and burn through tons of deals, while few make it through investment/credit committee. Due diligence process mainly the same - maintaining DD checklists, ordering/reviewing appraisals, environmental reports, collections, speaking with brokers on your assumptions/comps/market, writing up narratives/memos for final deal submission/closing, fielding questions and answers for the client, and a lot more.

One difference would most likely be the modeling in regards to IRR, CoC, EM, etc but even then, if you're at a strategic debt fund you model some of those out. But overall, I would say modeling is the largest difference (someone can correct me if I am wrong) with some other small nuances thrown in as well. The transition from acquisitions intern to debt analyst shouldn't be too difficult, even in a gateway market.

 

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