Goldman REFG?

Anyone know what Goldman's Real Estate Financing Group in Irving does? Their website reads like they're a CMBS originator, but they don't give that much information.

Additionally, is a CMBS originator a good place to start in RE?

 

No need to be hostile. I'm just a college kid tryna get a start in RE (beyond my current special servicer job) and I don't know the industry all that well.

Besides, there's a lot of fear in special servicers at the moment that CMBS issuance will decline for the next few years.

University of Chicago
 

What's your role at the special servicer? Any RE-related experience is better than none.

That said, there is little correlation between the skill set of a special servicer and a CMBS originator. The only exception would be if you have extensive direct contact with borrowers. And, even then, only if the focus is facilitating refinance opportunities. Since special servicers know the terms of every loan they manage, they theoretically are well-positioned to provide financing to borrowers in need of such a take-out -- with the caveat that the borrower qualifies for the loan. Then again, it's likely the loan is in special servicing because the borrower didn't perform as expected under his current loan.

Regardless, the reality is that few new loans are originated as a direct result of the special servicer's actions.

I do real estate
 

REO/Liquidation, so I'm focused on valuing/selling the individual properties moreso than the loan terms themselves (though I have done some work with the workout group).

I'm only here for my sophomore summer, so I would think that I still have a lot of flexibility even if my skills are not necessarily transferable, right?

University of Chicago
 
Best Response

I would suggest making the most of your experience at the special servicer. Being on the REO side provides a very narrow focus although if underwriting cash flows is part of your valuation process, some of those skills may be transferable to loan underwriting.

If you want to get into loan origination at a CMBS shop, chances are you would start out by supporting a loan originator, i.e. he pursues and reels in the loan opportunity and you then underwrite the loan. Go ahead and work to get yourself into a seat where you learn how to research a market for asking rents, vacancy levels, supply/demand, cap rates, etc. Those assumptions then feed into your loan underwriting. Learn how to underwrite and model in Excel and, if possible, Argus as well.

It's great that at this stage you have something of a focus of what you want to do. Continue to sharpen that focus and learn as much as you can. Good luck.

I do real estate
 

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