Credit Analyst in CRE

Will be reaching out to a SVP at a bank (10B+ AUM) that told a family member of mine to do so. Apparently he has some connections in CRE and wants to help me out. After looking into his bank, I saw that they have a credit analyst program that seems pretty legit. I'd like to hear what he has to say about how he can help me land a CRE role, but was wondering if I should bother asking him about a credit analyst position at his bank? How transferable would a credit analyst role be in CRE?

 

Credit Analyst role at a commercial bank can be very transferable depending upon how much CRE the bank does. Some banks have specialized CRE teams, but most that size have lenders that do a mix of general business loans, Investment CRE, and Owner-Occupied RE.

Sometimes working for a Bank can be frustrating because of the regulatory culture, but they have good work/life balance. I'd at least find out more.

 

I spent 4 years as a credit analyst - 2 years with a $3B community bank (generalist but roughly 80% of deals were CRE) and 2 years with a $65B regional bank (CRE specific team). Yesterday was my first day with a REPE firm (MM GP - acquisitions & asset mgmt).

There are pros and cons to starting in banking, as with most other roles. Are your questions regarding exit ops into acquisitions and/or development? I’d be happy to help.

 
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Transferring from debt to equity was not easy for me. It took me a year. A lot of final round interviews and being told that I'm a top candidate but they went with someone with more "direct experience." I found that among candidates trying to break in (versus someone who got into the equity side right out of school) I was typically second fiddle to kids working for top brokerages. Maybe people who worked for a larger banks (Wells, JPM, US Bank) had an easier time and can chime in on this thread.

I figured out somethings to help close the gap though. I bought a real estate modelling text book online and taught myself how to build models from scratch. When I would apply for jobs, I would quickly identify someone in the group I applied to and email/LinkedIn message them my resume, cover letter, and a model I built with a hypothetical property. That helped show that I knew how to calculate more than just dscr and dy. If your bank uses Argus, that will help in interviews. I had to take a two day training to be able to say I had experience. Everyone except multifamily people will ask about Argus.

In interviews my main strengths were being able to analyze markets and knowing how to put together comp sets, knowing how to analyze portfolios (guarantor analysis), and deal flow with multiple property types. The last point could also be a weakness if you're interviewing with a firm that specializes in one asset class; they'll look for a specialist rather than a generalist. Additionally, a line that helped me was saying "we operate on tight timelines and we often have to get deals approved prior to receipt of an appraisal. When that happens we will do our own dcfs to try and estimate value for LTV purposes." A lot of people on the principal side think lenders only know how to do a dscr calc.

Doing a graduate degree might also make your experience easier than mine. I chose to wait until I transitioned to do grad school - going full time at this point in the cycle seemed to risky and trying to do OCR while going part time seemed like it could get hectic while also trying to work the current gig. I've heard of people doing part time for the majority of the program while working and then quitting their jobs toward the end of the program so they can focus on recruiting, which seemed like a good compromise.

Lastly, I will say that while it wasn't for me, being a career banker isn't the worst gig in the world (if you can tolerate the regulations). The top loan officers at my two banks worked 20-30 hours per week, did a lot of deals, and cleared $350k-$500k per year. That kind of money in a secondary market will provide a very high quality of life.

TLDR - IS will have the best exit ops. If you go the lending/credit analyst route, go with the biggest bank you can get into (assuming they do a lot of RE). I would avoid the appraisal route unless the name of your grad school carries a lot of weight.

 

I think I know what credit analyst program your talking about. Did they also startup a internship this next summer? I was thinking of doing it because it's a MM bank and deals heavily in Dealer services and healthcare. I went to a lunchin and they were promoting the program so much. I think this could be a good start.

 

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