Cushman Wakefield Associate vs HFF Analyst?
I have been interviewing at Cushman Wakefield for the last few months with the BizDev team for an "associates" role but would be limited in terms of deal exposure. I am also in talks with HFF regarding an analyst role. I have no ARGUS experience but I think the experience at HFF would make me more valuable down the road. However, I have heard mixed reviews regarding HFF compensation for analysts ($50k-$60k+smaller bonus?) and I understand most associates at CW do well despite strictly setting meetings to start ($70k+commissions?). Can anyone shed some light on which opportunity would be best for starting out in CRE?
First off, what do you want to do in CRE? If you want to one day work in REPE or investment sales, working in a biz dev role isn't going to do much for you, but working as an analyst at HFF absolutely will (I'm assuming the analyst role would be on their investment sales team).
Second, if you're new to CRE, I'm not sure why you're worried so much about comp. It should be the last thing on your mind.
Both are good shops, but it depends on what your goals are in CRE.
Thanks @bd.charlus. The idea of REPE is definitely something of interest. I met with a Director of Asset Management and he said the best advice he had received early on was to start in leasing. Two very different ends of the spectrum but I spent the last three years in sales working for a start up, so I am 25 not 22 and am playing catch-up.
It depends on what asset class you want to specialize in, and whether you want to do acquisitions or Asset Management. If you want to work in office as an asset manager, then yes, knowing the ins and outs of leasing is very important. If you want to work in multifamily acquisitions, this is less important.
I stand by my comment about compensation regardless of what you've done prior to CRE. I ran a small business for five years, went back to school for a real estate/finance focused MBA, and currently work in REPE. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but real estate experience trumps everything. If you don't have it, expect to start at the bottom of the pay scale, and be ready to sacrifice salary in favor of exposure.
Take the analyst role, you can always go into biz-dev later.
Generally speaking I would say HFF as a whole does bigger and higher caliber deals. This is all regional of course, cause CW does big deals too, but it seems that HFF is regularly doing larger transactions.
I think you answered your own question when you said you would be limited in deal exposure at CW. Also, HFF's brand name certainly gives you a lot of credibility down the road when looking to make a move.
Like the other guys said, you aren't gonna make much when you start out in real estate, but the more experience you get on different types of deals will make you much more valuable in the future. I would take deal exposure over salary any day.
I am assuming the C&W role is Investment Sales, or leasing? If the former, I am going to disagree with some people here...
If you have the money to stay afloat as a commissioned broker, and the C&W team is rock solid, big player in your market, and trustworthy to teach you, then go for it. Investment Sales brokerage is very lucrative if you are on a good team that will take care of you and invest in you. HFF analysts are constantly churning. There is upward mobility in HFF, but you might as well skip the analyst track and hit the ground running if the opportunity with C&W is right.
The C&W Opportunity is with their leasing team. They have a strong team in town and there are a few up and comers there I'd love to work under. I have spent more time interviewing on the leasing side than I have investment sales, so all of the feedback has been helpful, thanks. I am trying to better understand the trajectory of investment sales vs leasing. Is one ultimately more lucrative than the other?
Well keep in mind that since this forum is geared towards finance, most people on here are partial to the investment sales side of brokerage.
However, leasing can be very lucrative (arguably more so than investment sales brokerage) if you put in the business development efforts. There is a reason most of the top CBRE/JLL producers are leasing brokers - there is much more business out there! One of my first college internships at a brokerage was helping find office tenant leasing leads. I would track down mid-size office-users, find the company CEO and CFO contact info, and send along to the leasing guys. They would cold call, and if lucky secure a meeting, and if extra lucky, get an exclusive agreemnt to represent the tenant. 6 months later a lease is signed and they get a check larger than your HFF analyst salary.
Whether you get into Investment Sales or leasing, just know that the team you join is most important. You do not want to joing a team that will give you a cold call spreadsheet and pay you 5% on any deals that you squeeze out of it. If a team is willing to bring you on their active deals and spend the time to teach you how they operate and where you can add value, then go for it.
Take the C&W position. Analysts spend all of their time as analysts worrying about when they'll become an associate.
I think what everyone is forgetting is the hard skills you learn as an analyst.
Yeah you make the big bucks in sales/leasing/finance as an independent contractor but you would be doing yourself and your clients a disservice if you don't understand the basic fundamentals of real estate. You will be learning that as an associate but it is a much longer curve. Why not focus on being an analyst in the mature part of the business cycle and when the next bull market occurs jump into a more client focused role.
The best young finance brokers I know(Commercial Observer's 30 Under 35, or whatever) were VP's of Bulge Bracket Banks, had contacts from real estate being a family business etc. Regardless how you break it down, they each had at least 5-8 years SOLID real estate experience. Can you compete with this expertise, and to be honest with the majority of people on this forum being finance types that generally means you are not really "sales" people? You don't want to do any job where luck and not hard work will make you successful.
If you have an interest in the buy side such as maybe REPE, how is HFF not the clear cut answer? Those Analysts get crazy deal exposure and getting hands on experience in every form of modeling including Argus. That's not to say the Cushman route isn't a good career start in itself, but if your goal is an acquisitions type role, im not sure how this is even a debate. Do a search on LinkedIn for HFF guys who were former Analysts and many jumped ship after 2-3 years to excellent roles in buyside.
Just my .02
This is a pretty ridiculous statement. HFF is not the clear cut answer. It depends what markets he is in and what product. HFF is my market which is a gateway city destroys CW in some product, but virtually does no deals in another product where CW is a rainmaker. It could go either way, but don't choose it based on the name of the firm without seeing the deal flow of each in the particular market.
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