Is it stupid of me to want to move to NYC right after college to get some work experience and the “experience” of living in a big city when I know I will want to move out of there in 5-7 years? I can’t see that lifestyle being a long term thing, but I definitely will feel like I missed out if I don’t try it for a while.
Would I be able to work my way up to some sort of associate position and then move to a different state/city and still succeed? Or would it be like starting all over again?
i see no downside to taking the leap if you are able to secure an opportunity and afford to live in nyc. I am a firm believer of the fact that if you are sucessful in ny you can be successful anywhere else. you will def have opportunities should you want out after a few years to another market (chicago, austin, la, sf, atlanta)
I have family that can attest to this. I'm from the Midwest and my sister moved out to NYC after graduation. Now granted she worked in IB out there but the story is the same. She spent around 4 years out there, grinding it out and making pretty good money. She got her Masters in Paris and now lives back in our home state.
But I tell you what. I have not met someone who travels the world as much as her throughout the year, and it's not work travel either. Back home, she has held two Finance Manager positions for around 2 years each before making the switch to a F500 with the same job title. Now she works as a financial consultant and continues to travel the world and is only 32.
Moral of the story, you absolutely can and most likely will be able to move to wherever after NY and will probably make around the same amount of money. Like the guy above me said, if you can be successful in NYC, you can be successful anywhere. That place is no joke when it comes to business, everyone wants to make a shit ton of money and most eventually do if you grind. Then they realize they can relax their lifestyle and choose to move somewhere else. People take notice when you have reputable work experience in NYC. Just my two cents from someone who has a direct source.
Thanks for the replies. I’m moreso talking about the connections you get from working at IS/debt equity shops (that’s what I’m shooting for). Obviously the underwriting experience is transferable, but I’m hoping if I wanted to move closer to home or to another city and be in more of a “production” roll bringing in the business (commission $$$) that it wouldn’t be like starting again.
Has anyone successfully changed cities and still been successful in one of these types of rolls?
As an addendum to my comment below (just saw this) if you're going for brokerage, I'd say it's a little bit more of a downtime/starting from scratch situation if you're moving markets. For example if you sell CRE in primarily the Northeast then go to another part of the country, you obviously don't know the tenants, the product inventory, the development pipeline, who the active buyers are, etc., so it takes time to rebuild that. Less ramp up if you move from a principal shop to another principal shop IMO.
Yes, you can absolutely do it. I did it two years ago and surrendered a big established network on the east coast for the West. It takes some time but if you get yourself out there (ULI, networking, other RE trade groups, broker events) you will make it happen. Generally speaking, the value of those networks on the principal side are more valuable when you are older anyways (the 45 year old principal calling the actual shots on where the equity checks are going).
To follow from what everyone else is saying as well, if you join a shop that invests nationally, you will continuously be building a network of brokers around the country. As for capital, most of it is in NY, so regardless of where you go after, a lot of the money for your deals will likely still come from shops based in NY. When I was in D/E, I made contacts all over the country for the shops that weren't in NY because we financed deals everywhere. So yes, if that's the path you want to take, you absolutely can as long as you focus on growing your network throughout your stay.
You'll be fine on the network, it will take you time to learn another market if you move somewhere that is more regionally focused. Not that big of a deal, but it will be a little bit of an adjustment. For example, if you work in NYC then move to LA, you're going to need to get acclimated to the different players that just play in the west coast space, the different regulations, micro economy, etc. But again, not rocket science, just takes time. This is assuming a RE focus since you posted in the RE forum. If you do something like IB which is less geographically focused, then shouldn't really matter.
Thanks everyone for the responses. My goal would be to do either IS/Debt placement at a brokerage so I’ll just shoot to lateral to the principal side if I ever move to a different area. I’d assume that with good deal flow after 3 years I’d have enough experience to make that possible. What types of firms (names would be helpful so I could find similar firms) would hire former debt/IS brokers on the principal side given this type of scenario?
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