Accept CRE lending job if my end goal is development?
Hi all,
I recently received a job offer for a CRE portfolio manager position at a regional bank. There are a lot of pros to the job - great work/life balance, competitive pay, top choice in terms of location, good team members, etc. However, I'd like to get into development down the road, and the employer isn't necessarily considered a "top" bank, so I'm a bit concerned about exit opportunities. I'm only in the beginning stages of interviewing with stronger employers and this company needs to hear back from me by the end of the week. I think its also important to note that I don't have finance experience in my previous internships, so this job would be a great way to learn. Should I accept the offer or roll the dice? Would appreciate any feedback!
Given your goals, this should be a hard pass.
You’ll never be as excited for a job than as the day you accept the role. Your description of it indicates you do not want this role.
Sounds like a fine gig, but it’s not the one you want.
Tough to answer without knowing what your prospects are like and what other positions you are looking at.
I’m not necessarily recommending it (because we don’t know enough), but two things to consider are how much CRE experience do you have, and will you have opportunities to meet developers in the job.
If you don’t have any CRE experience, you’ll get it in this role. If the bank is doing construction loans (some CRE groups focus on term debt and don’t do construction), you should have opportunity to meet developers and go to lunches etc (assuming they don’t have you in a windowless room in Kansas). Are you going to be doing underwriting as part of this role? Construction draws?
Thanks for the response. I am a senior in college with RE internships in brokerage and at a developer, but I was doing a lot of softer, non-finance projects for the developer. The bank does construction loans - I made sure to ask about it during the interview process. Job is in a gateway city, so there will be lots of opportunities for networking. Underwriting will be big part of the role, not sure about construction draws though. Leaning towards accepting as of now.
I’d take the offer if it’s your best option. Have seen personally 2 guys Ik who worked for regional lenders as credit analysts, then made the jump to banks’ clients (developers) as an acquisitions/quasi-financial analyst type role. As long as they lend const. financing you’ll be fine but will have to network/prove yourself obv to make the jump (after 1-2 yr mark)
Regional Bank roles are not so bad. Great work life balance and decent pay depending on market.
For transitioning to development, are you going to go to Hines? Likely not. But I have seen regional developers poach regional bank guys, especially if you have experience doing construction loans.
That's good to hear, yeah I'd much prefer working at smaller developers in the future anyways, the pressure/ hours/ egos at top companies is something I'm trying to avoid
Might be controversial advice…but accept the job, but keep interviewing and renege if a better opportunity comes up. Got to do what’s best for you. The role itself seems solid and will help you get into development as your next job. I’d say it’s pretty tough to get into a developer straight out of UG since developers run very lean and usually want candidates with at least 1-2 years experience either on the finance side or construction (architecture, engineering, project management)
I agree with this, except maybe the reneging part (I just think it's a bit classless and would avoid it if I could). The entry level roles at the dev shop I'm at is probably 3-4 years of experience, and everyone came from a finance/dev background except for the construction folks (who are just doing in-house CM work, not really development staff). I will say that understanding the finance part is pretty crucial to joining a development shop, so learn a lot at the lender. You'll never be able to manage a GC as well as someone who came from that world, but you don't need to for the most part.
Yeah I hear you on the reneging and it comes down to everyone's own moral compass. I'm pretty self-serving to be honest. Back when I was pursuing my MSRE, a buddy of mine was job hunting and interviewing with a couple solid firms in NYC and the sunbelt states. He had final rounds at a couple solid roles/shops in NYC, but received an offer in Texas (expiration was before his final rounds). I advised him to accept it, but continue with the final rounds and renege if he had to. This guy is straight as a ruler and decided to accept the offer, cancel his final rounds, and move out to Texas. 3 weeks later he hits me up asking if he can crash at my place in NYC because he has a couple interviews lined up in NYC. He absolutely hated the Texas job and Texas. I think he'll take my advice next time lol
Going from banking to development happens all the time, especially if you can get into the arm of the bank that services developers! Seen it many times, not hard at all.
Banking is a fine job out of UG, could you maybe do better? Who knows, but all else equal, I see no reason to say no.
Final point, the ranking or "top"ness of bank will NOT make a big difference going into development, this is the least "name" driven part of the real estate industry. So honestly, I don't think it would be any easier/harder if at same big "name" bank... In fact, regionals are sometimes more aggressive in lending to developers, that is far more deterministic on how much you will learn/can do in the crossover.
This is a first job. It’s not rolling the dice. You can recruit for development in 1-2 years and no one will bat an eye.
You'll be fine taking this role. You can certainly move into it after you get some experience, trying to land into a role with a developer right out of school is not easy and really going to be a tough sell.
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