How do I get started in commercial real restate as a recent grad?
I grew up with my mom in residential real estate and was always interested. She made very good money at times. My mom actually did get her first commercial real estate deal recently selling some lot, and made a $67k paycheck without any prior commercial experience (that is more than what I make in a year, but I am 24). I went to a top college but don't see many people going into real estate brokerage or sales. However, I think I would be passionate about it and could potentially make money.
How do I get started, especially as a female? I don't really believe people's advice on here talking down residential brokers or real estate sales seeing that my mom could rake in pretty big paychecks easily. I also interviewed for a residential real estate company where a few kids at my school made enough money selling real estate to rich kids part-time to pay off loans/quit school.
I tried applying to analyst roles but most companies want prior experience or at least an internship. Could I start in residential sales?
I typed a long reply and it didn't post. I will edit this comment and retype the message later if I have time.
Background on me: I did resi sales, made some decent coin, and now work in a highly technical job.
Quick $0.02: You can do resi brokerage if you are extroverted and hard working to make pretty good money. Your work life balance will suck. If you want to be an analyst- don't go into resi brokerage. Go to any analyst (even research analyst) at a big CRE brokerage if that's what you wanna do.
Why did you decide to leave residential brokerage? Was it hard to transition into another type of role? I wouldn't necessarily consider myself extroverted, but I am very likable/smart/motivated. Sometimes being likable can outweigh extroversion, but that is one of my worries.
Got some time now so here it goes:
Reason I left: I did not enjoy it. This is truly a personal thing- you may really enjoy it and find your calling. I got some great advice pretty early on. Look at a person who is 10 years your senior and see their life. Is that the life you want? Not just total pay, but the lifestyle they lead.
I answered that question easily- no. I looked at everyone in my resi brokerage office and realized that's not how I want to live my life. So I decided to find out how I wanted to live my life and pursue that.
Was it hard to transition? Absolutely. Towards the end I got a few offers and pretty far into interviews for a wide variety of RE firms. These included major brokerages, small REPE, small REIT, and boutique debt brokerages. Ultimately I wound up at a vertically integrated Development and GC shop.. though the two sides are separate. I am on the GC side.
How did I transition? I really really really knew my financials and modeling stuff. I left resi brokerage and would practice modeling obsessively (like 8 hours a day nonstop). I read 25+ books on finance and real estate, keep up with industry news, and was able to quote which deals which people at each firm did. I added credibility through UCLA Extension Certificates, REFM modeling Cert, and other stuff I did. I had success as a resi broker so I played on that as well.
I consider myself likable, I have a good group of friends and a ton of distant friends. It's just hard for me to deal with client acquisition. A lot of my close friends are involved with RE and usually have their license, meaning I won't be selling them a home.
I would really dig deep and determine what you want to do. If you need help feel free to PM me- always happy to be a resource.
Honestly, if you are a good-looking female and you can sell = luxury residential = lots of $ ahahha but it definitely looked down upon from a commercial standpoint because of how "uncomplex" the transactions are. If you are really serious about commercial real estate I would try working a summer for free for a broker and getting hands-on experience in the industry. I'm sure your mom could connect you with some big-time brokers, or you can just go on google and find on the big investment sales guys to see if they are looking for an intern. Without any experience, it will be hard to get a great position immediately and you will have to work for free or just grind somewhere until you can leverage that position into something better. I am somewhat in the same position you are and all my internships have been because I was proactive and contacted the broker myself and showed initiative. If you are a grinder, and passionate about commercial real estate it's definitely something you can do, just will take some time to establish a network and land an analyst job at a top shop (JLL, CB, ES). Any experience is good experience so if you could work for your mom in residential and then leverage that into an internship selling multifamily or office (just examples) that's a great start and way into the business. This business is relationship driven so where you start is necessarily not where you will end up if you can leverage relationships! hope this helps a little. Lmk if you have any other questions.
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