ER or keep interviewing

So, a little background. I've worked in IB/PE for a little over three years. Over two of them spent at large banks in IB and a little less than a year starting up a Real Estate Private Equity. I've been looking for a permanent position at the same time without a ton of luck with the markets the way they are.

The dilemma, I was just made an offer at a ER firm that focuses on REITs. The firm is best of breed and has amazing cred in the space as well as good work-life balance (50-60 hours except during earnings season). The offer itself is good, except the firm is located in Cali and I don't know about moving out there.

The options:
1. Accept the offer and be happy out on the west coast and enjoy the weather
2. Continue to try to make a go and apply to other firms, hopefully staying close to home
3. Do number two but apply to B-school and spend the next 2 years and 100k building the network and whatnot more

What do you guys think, is the market strengthing, more jobs and I should just wait. Or is going the independent route not improving my marketability and I should just take a job.

Has anyone else moved to a place they weren't thrilled about for a job?

 

I'm assuming you'd be moving to SF? That's an awesome city. I'd move there an never look back if I were you. You can't beat Cali--everything is better there except for the the amount of available jobs in the financial services industry. But if you have the offer there, shit, why would you hesitate? This is golden, and If I lived around the NYC area and received the offer in SF or NYC, I'd take SF.

You can get your MBA at Berkley, UC Davis, or do the Wharton MBA in SF.

 
Best Response

Green Street is in Newport Beach. The weather is definitely nice in LA, but from a holistic standpoint, there are several major pros and cons:

Pros: Girls are super hot, nightlife is pretty good, weather is amazing, hours will be better than SF/East Coast, office culture tends to be much more laid back and less cutthroat, ample parking for your car, cost of living much lower than NY (depending on how much you party), lots of stuff to do, get off from work earlier

Cons: Not really a finance hub like SF/NY, harder to interview for exit options (most will require a plane flight), smaller offices limit networking opportunity, may have less "street cred" working in LA finance instead of NY/SF, sometimes you get stuck on 6am calls w/ east coast clients, need to drive everywhere, your girl will probably be after your money, your girl will be very high maintenance, pretty bad traffic, if you spend all of your free time in the clubs and bars you will probably get very jaded

 

Family member lives in Newport Beach. If you like 72 and sunny with a slight breeze off the ocean its a pretty good choice. I would argue that cost of living is AT LEAST on par with suburban NJ/NY/CT. I'm not sure how verifiable this is, but I would find out how much flow they do through their trading desk as that is probably (I'm guessing) how the buyside pays for their research and thus pays you. Seems like a top shop that will give you some exit opps to HF if you were interested.

 

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--There are stupid questions, so think first.

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