commercial bank real estate move
First time poster here. Currently working as a financial analyst for a small and privately held commercial bank. Eventually, I do want to move into real estate, hopefully in a few years I will be working at some REPE, REHF or any REIT.
Work is good, I am getting a very solid experience in analyzing and consolidating our financial statements, which is good because I think its always good to have a solid accounting experience to understand how any businesses operate.
My bank has a RE investment arm and has like 15 people in that team. Question is, Is it good for me to try to network my way into that team? Is it possible to do so? What is the best way to make a move to another dept within the company? I really want to learn how to valuate properties. Talked to one of the analysts, he showed me the reports they do with all the good-old income + sales comp approach they used, ARGUS reports and all that good stuff. Is it useful to learn these skills? What else can I do to transition into this industry? Should I take real estate classes? What do people do a few years down the road? Exit ops?
Please advise!
there are a lot of real estate experts on this board and I'm sure they'll help you a lot. I'm currently looking to break in to the real estate industry as well, likely after my MBA, so I'll give you my perspective:
most of the time i find that employers want real estate experience, so get it anywhere you can. Certainly being at the bank already puts you in a great position to network into the real estate group. Meet with them all, learn what they do, tell them your intentions, maybe even tell your supervisors. At the end of the day, you'll be getting real estate experience which can only help in landing your next gig.
thanks djc, what about real estate certification classes. There is a big college in town that offers these types of classes. My bank only reimburse tuition for employees that has been with the bank for a while. So would it be helpful/worth the money for me to enroll in these classes? They're only 700 bucks for a 2 months-1 class a week course. What else can I do to polish the empty real-estate resume of mine??
You should absolutely network internally with the goal of moving into the commercial RE banking group if you want to get into RE. It would be much easier than trying to break into RE with another company without RE experience. My group only hires first year Analysts with finance (or similar) degrees from top schools. If we are looking at bringing on Associates, they must have a few solid years of applicable experience.
Not sure how long you've been in your role but keep excelling and exercise tact (be mindful of office politics, your current bosses ego, etc) when it comes to expressing your interest in moving over to RE. Make it about your career growth and how you want the opportunity to stay with the company because it's so great, yadda yadda. Also, read up on RE finance books now. I highly recommend Linneman's renowned text. If nothing else, that will confirm or deny your interest in RE before you make the internal move.
Good luck!
Atwoodt, were you referring to "Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities, Second Edition - Peter Linneman."?
On a side note, I'm in a similar position as Money.Monkey. Trying to move latterally, and already posses a background on CRE finance and accountiong. WIth that said, the CRE Finance Council is having a luncheon here in my local town with a feature called "Meet the Lenders." 2 BB and 2 PE CRE lenders will be part of the presentation panel.
If you were to attenand to try and network, what would be some sollid questions to have prepared for panelists and for those in attendance?
Thanks.
I'm also interested in knowing CashIsKing's question. There's this RE networking group in my city, which I've always hesitated to go to. Mainly because you have to pay to attend these luncheons/dinner parties. I've always wondered if it's worth the investment, because I'm not even sure if I would even have the chance to talk to these big names. Anyone with the experience of going to these events? What kind of things can we pull off there?
*knowing the answer to CashIsKing's question
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