Working in Conventional Loans vs. Small Balance Loans (Underwriting)

I recently interviewed for an underwriting position w/ a GSE's conventional loans group and am interviewing for an underwriting position with the same GSE's small balance loans group next week. The conventional loans group focuses on the southeast region and the SBL group focuses on the central region.

The SBL group is a newer group in the company, so I am thinking there might be more immediate opportunity for vertical growth w/in the company. I think I understand the main differences between the two groups (loan size, region, and the conventional loans will have a smaller volume of deals but involve a more in-depth analysis on each deal, whereas the small balance group will have a higher volume of deals but feature a less rigorous analysis). However, I'm less clear on if one or the other would be a better choice career-wise.

  • If I don't end up becoming a "company man" and am looking to switch career paths three to five years down the road, would one group be considered more favorably than the other by potential employers?

  • Would the two different groups provide somewhat different or mostly similar exit opportunities down the road?

  • What sorts of potential exit opportunities exist for a GSE underwriter? Banks? Real estate investment companies? Others?

I don't have offers for either position yet, so I am probably getting ahead of myself, but I just want to prepare myself if the situation arises that I have offers for both positions, since I will only have a limited amount of time to make the decision.

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