Retail Sales (Fin Advisor) transitioning to Institutional?

Hello, I am new to this forum and have read a ton of topics and really like this community...I hope i can pick your brain for some advice.

I am a financial advisor for a large bank (retail, in DC) trying to make the move to NYC and get into institutional sales. I also worked at Merrill for a short period in private wealth management (cold calls all day) but that is a ridiculous mountain to climb for a 25 year old, so a retail bank was a better fit. Currently i meet with bank customers, convince them to invest, pitch funds, structured products, annuities etc. I am a top producer, but I cant do this shit forever, convincing non investors to invest and explaining investments to people who invest in CDs etc. Also a lot of people who work in the bank environment dont even have college degrees. Don't wanna sound like a jerk but there is a huge intellectual gap between me and colleagues/clients. I am pretty white collar, solid undergrad b school and I want to work with smarter people and have a more inspiring work environment. I am 7 years out of undergrad, 4.5 years as registered rep in sales. I do pretty well, make good money (not wall street $ though, but six figs), but dont want to do this forever, and need to correct the path before it gets too late.

I am in DC area and want to move to NYC so want to make the job change at the same. I know wall street firms like to hire either out of undergrad or MBA, or an experienced hire who is doing the same work and is ready to go/bring clients.

I am somewhere in between in that I have sales and investment experience, Series 7/66 but there would be some learning curve lets say in equities sales.

1) For those who are in sales or trading, would a company hire someone like me assuming I knock out the interview? I look and act the part and interview very well, have 3 very good companies on my resume. If i got into institutional right out of undergrad (I could have), I would obviously be fine. But i decided to try Tech sales and consulting for a couple of years before finding my interest in finance and the markets. I am confident it is mostly a matter of getting the interview and i can close from there.

2) If 1 is yes, should I target BB banks or boutique? I would need some training but much less than a new analyst out of college.

2) Do you think i could get the NYC job interviewing from DC or would you recommend i resign and move to NYC and aggressively pursue jobs when im up there? Would a NYC headhunter be helpful? I have some money in the bank so 4 months without job is not going to kill me. But I hate to quit a decent job, and we are just socially trained to believe that is a bad idea, an unemployed candidate looks less attractive, less leverage etc.

I appreciate any advice or insight you may have!