Hi all, going through an early career crisis and would appreciate any help or insights.
Currently
Role: Asset Manager for multifamily GP/developer, sit in PHX, covering Phx & Texas markets. Portfolio size of around ~20 deals in various stages.
Experience: 4 years total
Comp: ~$200k all-in
Education: Ivy League (not HYP), 3.3 GPA
GMAT: N/A, couple practice exams in 2020 was ~750.
Goals
In short, work and live in NYC. I've thought about making this move for years now, and haven't taken any concrete steps to make it a reality. I don't want to not try this and have some sort of lasting regret. I hate Phoenix lol. No friends or family here.
I'm willing to "start over" at an associate level role - I have a good amount of savings. I wouldn't be comfortable with anything less than $150k base, however.
Next Steps
I am honestly not sure where to even start. I am not well-versed in which groups to even begin looking at in NYC - I've been digging up some old WSO posts about NYC-based firms (development and owners). I don't have actual development experience, and I feel like my Asset Management skills do not transfer over to the LP side. All the other companies similar to mine are based in the Southwest/Southeast/South. I've found very few jobs on LinkedIn - I recognize a good deal of networking will be required if I look to change jobs.
Business School might make sense as well - Columbia has a killer program, would create a network for me naturally, I think I'd have a leg up on all the career changers in the program. Can spin a good story about transitioning to development (affordable, etc.) for adcoms. Opportunity cost sucks in this scenario, of course - but would be a nice reset. I also think it'd be the best way to maintain good relationships at my current firm if/when a future opportunity presents itself. Also would just be kind of fun to go back to school, have fun. Wouldn't need to kill myself doing IB/MBB recruiting, might do some T2 consulting interviews. But main goal would be to network in RE, land an internship part-time with classes, and go from there.
I'm currently planning on just signing up for a GMAT course and taking it in the Spring. Can't hurt. Without an actual score in my hand, the business school route is just pointless conjecture. Might even be good leverage at my current company?
Sorry for the essay..
TLDR: Looking to transition to NYC RE in a development or AM capacity. Unsure if MBA makes sense.
Did not mean to post this in the Business School section - sorry for the bump.
You can make the transition. The NY real estate tabloids are a good place to see who the large developers in NYC are (or who is making waves). Read The Real Deal for NY or Commercial Observer. Crains Real Estate is good too.
I don’t know what your day to day is but you can 100% move from AM at a GP to an LP. If you want to move to development; I think you should look at development management roles that deal more with business related items instead of construction related items. You’ll generally find a split between development management and project management at larger firms and more complicated projects. Development management on the business side is very similar to asset management. It’s what I do. Day to day I handle: capital raising (debt and equity), budgeting, lease negotiations, valuation and modeling, interfacing with the appropriate stakeholders in the city and my district, working with consultants, working with our construction project managers to make sure we have a good handle on what is going on, etc. it’s all very similar to asset management and you can 100% make the transition via networking. Just start networking and see what happens. Reach out to headhunters too. You may find it’s a bit hard right now as NY is a tough market at the moment. Office building deals are tough to get over the finish line and so that knocks out a huge portion of previously active developers. Doesn’t mean you can’t get a seat, but just commenting on the market.
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