Are real estate shops accepting of non-traditional backgrounds?
I am currently an analyst at a BB working within debt capital markets. I am coming up on my 2 years, and I don't want to do this anymore. The work is tedious and the hours aren't that great. I recently gained a strong interest in commercial real estate, and am interested in CRE for my next career move.
Would I have a shot at any senior analyst/associate roles within CRE? I am looking at real estate debt funds and debt investment roles, as well as some development firms as well. They all say they prefer real estate experience, but I obviously don't have that.
Would I be able to break in with my capital markets background?
Hey Prospect, have you thought about getting into CMBS or working in debt capital markets at a REIT?
Kinda curious..... how is this a "non-traditional background"? I clicked on this expecting to find like rental car counter agent or something, but analyst at BB is about as mainstream/traditional as you get. Am I missing something?
I thought it was non-traditional because it is not real estate related at all, and the role doesn't require much financial modeling.
Well for real estate recruiting, this is pretty mainstream. Clearly it is worth it for you to get some real estate modeling training, since this is so available online it is very much becoming expected. But still, moving from BB i-banking into CRE is one of the easiest "jumps" into CRE someone can make.
Any particular geographies you’re targeting? My firm (development & acquisitions) is currently looking for analysts.
If anyone is looking for a financial analyst job in Vancouver DM me
Not sure about geography, but I will definitely be looking for a senior analyst/associate role, since I have 2 years of good experience already.
They’re not going to hire you as a sr analyst or associate when you have 0 RE experience. Gotta drop the ego a bit
Is this actually correct? In a similar boat as the OP (although currently an associate) and have just started kicking the tires on RE recruiting; however I can't imagine that someone w/ 2+ years of experience in any kind of finance role would be viewed the same as a kid coming out of college. Anyone moving from IB to RE is doing so fully expecting to take a very significant pay-cut, but being valued and titled the same as a kid who just got out of school seems bonkers. Can be safely assumed that anyone out of IB has a ton of modeling experience, can put together cogent prezzo materials, juggle multiple deliverables, manage time effectively, communicate effectively w/ senior folks, and pick concepts up quickly. On the other hand, any day that our new first year analysts don't set the building on fire or accidentally delete half of the files on the drive is a good day.
Yes exactly. I am willing to take a pay cut but no chance I am going to be a 1st year analyst. Senior analyst at the minimum.
Titles don't really mean much in real estate. You have some analyst that do the same work as associates.
ditto the above, don't get caught up on titles if you are looking at buyside CRE roles, really don't mean much. Not comparable to the BB ibank structure.
Lol dude - plenty of great groups hire people with two years of sell side experience as “analysts”. Square Mile and ASB both come to mind.
If you’re in RE for the long haul, taking a title cut just doesn’t matter. It’s like 1-2 years out of a 35 year career
Yeah, getting caught up in titles (or even base pay) when making a jump like this seems very sub-optimal from a long-term view
How closely do title and comp track each other then? Obviously, in banking title and comp track each other pretty much 1:1. I am unconcerned w/ title, but would not sign up to be paid what someone coming out of school is. I'm willing and expecting to take a pay-cut, but probably wouldn't be able to pull the trigger at a 50% comp decrease, which would be in the $110-$120 range (base + bonus).
If you want $110-$120 you can get it. Associate and senior analyst roles tend to pay more than that (if in NYC or other major market)
Tons of "it depends" in this question, and what you may not be considering is that a lot of buyside firms do not really have positions for people direct out of school and all "entry level" positions are filled with those with 2-4+ years of related experience. Thus, I think trying to compare this is not even close in such minute details. In fact, some firms barely use the "analyst" rank and just start at associate. Others, use "analyst" as more of a descriptive title (meaning you really do most analytical work, build models primarily, etc.), this is the case at my firm, thus you can get promoted a few times within "analyst" world. Bottom line, it's just different.
Assuming you are in a major market, getting a base + bonus in the $110-120 range is reasonable for sure, in fact, I'd say its possible to get up to $150-200k at a top tier firm (with a lot of that being bonus, like $100k base + $100 bonus potential). At smaller firms, it is even possible that a "senior analyst" may actually get some allocation of carry or other long-term comp (not saying this is common).
The more "prepped" you appear with real estate knowledge, modeling ability, and just overall fit/readiness the better chance of getting to the higher range. All depends how long you are willing to search and how picky you want to be.
You could absolutely get an associate role with a CRE debt or investment sales team (CB,CW,JLL,NKF,WD). Would be a stepping stone if debt fund is your end goal but it would let you see a wide variety of real estate deals and between that and two years at a BB you would have a pretty stacked resume and the network.
It’s definitely possible to get into RE, but you need to be flexible on title and pay. DCM at a BB is a high paying, highly sought after “wall street” role.
If you want a high paying, highly sought after, “Wall Street” RE role, you are going to need to take an intermediate step. EG move to the CMBS desk at your bank -> move to a top debt fund (just an example). You’re not going to go DCM to Cerberus
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