Considering career pivot into real estate and concurrent education, any tips?
I currently work in an industry that is far removed from real estate, finance, or banking as I took an opportunity to work in a family owned business. As this endeavor winds down I'm looking for professional opportunities elsewhere, primarily in real estate.
Unfortunately, I have absolutely no expertise or experience in the real estate field. Should I take some courses or perhaps work toward an MS in Real Estate or Real Estate Development while actively searching for work in the field? What opportunities, if any, can I reasonably expect to be qualified for considering I don't have any experience in the field or anything remotely related?
What generalized tips, reading material, professional and industry associations, conferences, career opportunities, and networking advice would you suggest?
Bit more background on the industry and the role you were doing would be insightful. How old are you? I imagine a Msred/MS will be the best way to pivot your career, may be worth doing an internship for 2 months or so first to see if you actually want to do that/having experience pre Msred would be helpful when trying to get into a competitive shop.
The industry is export whole sale trade as well as building an in-house brand of hair and skin care products. My role has been general manager for the last three years, but I had more junior positions when I first started out which were clerical and administrative in nature. I'm 28 years old and am going to be turning 29 soon, and I've been working in this company since I was 22 years old. I graduated with a BS in business and technology from a small technical school in Hoboken, NJ, but it's not applicable to real estate to the best of my knowledge. I'm open to getting an internship, but I am unsure as to where I should start looking given my deficit in experience and expertise. It would be ideal if I could find an internship then transition to full time work while completing an MS as it'd lessen my financial burdern. Any further advice you could contribute would be greatly appreciated Macchiavelli11.
I think anyone who you ask will re-iterate the same advice, build a network. When I was starting I would randomly send emails to company's HR expecting an internship, after a painful amount of no responses I altered my approach. I found a company I liked, scaned on linkedin to see who appear approachable/resonated with my background. Then found the company email format and emailed them directly (I found the response rate to be significantly higher than contacting via LinkedIn) Maybe consider doing one of the real estate modelling courses BIWS ect. Then start shelling out emails asking people for a 10 min call or to meet for coffee try grow your network see if you can do some sort of internship and then consider if the Msred/MSF would be for you. Ask around maybe some family friends know some people in the industry who could help you out. Others opinions may differ, but I think development aside from Hines/Tishman/realated etc, particularly in the mid to lower end of the market is likely easier to get in that acquisitions/invesment. A lot of big developers out there without the typical ivy degree
My advice is to look in your immediate area and tell me (or yourself) where are the best places a 29 year old would live, work, and play. Then go on Loopnet.com and start asking questions. Remember you are the son of a multi million dollar import export conglomerate family. Learn. If you enjoy, keep going. Come back to wso for next steps.
Thanks for the reply odog808. Is there a forum on the website you'd mentioned for jobs and internships, industry specific publications, and professional organizations, or were you alluding to something else entirely?
Sorry I was in a rush to post so wasn’t entirely clear. You should follow the advice of other posters on this thread regarding networking and applying for education programs. I just suggested a very low cost way to decide you really like real estate. Go look at commercial real estate for sale in your city. You can find the listings on Loopnet.com. Ask to see the investment packages aka offering memorandum (OM). You might have to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and that’s fine, just keep the info to yourself. Now, you might not come across as a savvy real estate investor yet, but make like you have money to invest. Say you’re looking to invest family money (if you really do, PM me :). And just ask questions. Sooner or later you will understand what an investment thesis is (aka how you are going to make money and a certain risk level). I say start with what someone like your 29 years self would want. Apartment near work? Warehouse near the port? If you start loving this stuff, then go ahead and write your grad school essay about your passion and pay the money. I want you to only go to grad school or get into this industry unless you are passionate about real estate and shaping the world around you. There are other professions otherwise that might be your calling. Want you to be successful.
Ah, okay. I've already taken some of Macchiavelli11's advice in identifying some prospective low to mid-tier development companies with projects in NYC which is going to be my area of focus. I ordered a text book that's used in a well respected program's graduate course in order to understand RE specific tax and accounting at a baseline level. Afterwards, I plan to learn about modeling from an academic perspective. Hopefully, by then I'll be an intern and be able to apply baseline knowledge of RE accounting and tax complexities to a real world valuation model. In-between learning the tax and accounting side of RE and getting an internship or job I figure I'd be able to gain some real world knowledge with respect to the market in NYC specifically, and how it's viewed by people within industry.
I appreciate the advice odog808, I figure I won't really know whether this is truly a calling or not until I get into the grit.
What was the title of the text book you got?
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