Hi all,
I am currently an analyst on an investment sales team focusing on multi family but more broadly, residential investment as a whole. I am looking to break into REPE and more importantly move into commercial. Unfortunately I am hitting constant obstacles so I thought I'd come to WSO for some advice - should I accept a multifamily investment role or keep with what I want?
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Have you considered trying to "lateral" from your current team that focuses on multifamily to another team that focuses on office/retail/industrial? Or another investment sales team at a different firm that is more commercial-focused? It might be too big of a jump to go MF Investment Sales -> "Commercial" REPE (though I would argue that MF is absolutely commercial, but I digress).
Perhaps try MF Investment Sales -> Office Investment Sales -> Office REPE. A year or so in this type of role is nothing in the grand scheme of your career. Or try to leverage your MF experience into a MF REPE role for a year or so before trying to land the REPE job you really want.
For what it's worth, I've worked in MF REPE for the past year and am trying to move to a firm that focuses on office, whether that's a REIT, equity shop, or another REPE firm. I've found that firms are less concerned with my ability to go from MF -> Office than they are with how many deals I've worked on, my knowledge of the due diligence process, my ability to interpret legal documents, and my overall knowledge of the investment process. Even my lack of ARGUS experience hasn't been a dealbreaker because my Excel modeling skills are strong.
Thanks for you input bd.charlus. I have thought about a move into a commercial investment sales team but would probably prefer to move into another firm, nothing against my current company, it's just that I'd feel a bit bad for jumping into another team at the same company - I know I don't "owe" the team anything to stay but I would probably feel less guilty else where. I've thought about an eastdil/hff but not sure what culture would be liked compared with a jll, cbre, c&w.
Out of interest, do you feel any push back from commercial opportunities because of your mf background? Or do you feel it makes no difference. Only reason I ask is because I have had family office/mf repe/development opportunities put my way (with one actually wanting to interview me despite me telling the recruiter not to send my cv..... Needless to say I turned it down). However, I am trying desperately hard not to get pigeonholed. I'm not sure if it's as big a problem in the US (assuming you're in the states) but the UK it feels like pigeonholing is a real thing and hard to shake off.
I don't know anybody that doesn't consider multi to be commercial real estate, even if it's technically not a commercial use
I agree with this but I have met people in "commercial" who don't see MF as commercial, as if it is reserved for Office and Retail and Industrial.
I agree, but the main reasons people view it differently from what I've seen are as follows: 1) the modeling is obviously different with respect to Argus/how to build the cash flow, etc; 2) the process is somewhat different during DD (no leases to review in-depth, no tenant financials, no CAM rec, etc., 3rd party inspection reports are looking for different things than other asset types); and finally 3) the contacts/relationships are completely different. Number 3 is the most important in my mind. In office/retail/industrial, since your tenants are generally businesses, you have to have contacts in leasing, property management, tenant rep, construction/contractors (for TI's, etc.), etc. For MF, you really only have to have good contacts in property management and on the capital markets/investment sale broker side. As a less important factor, a lot of times different people will dabble in all 3 'commercial' types, whereas if someone is in MF, a lot of times they only cover MF in my experience.
I cover all 4 product types at my firm, and I can definitely say that my life would be a lot easier if I did only Multifamily or Office/Industrial/Retail. Having to cross the line makes it tougher for a lot of reasons.
That being said, OP should be able to break in eventually, just have to have patience.
Whilst I agree with people's comments that mf is "commercial", it seems like the only reason I'm being turned down is my lack of commercial experience. This mindset may be partly due to the fact that mf as an asset class in the UK is in its early stages.
I guess I'll just have to keep trying my luck.
Investment Sales to REIB/Acquisitions - Masters needed? (Originally Posted: 01/20/2013)
I am fresh out of college(graduated in May 2012), and work in investment sales in California. I found a passion for real estate early during college, got my sales license and took Graduate level urban planning courses during Undergrad since they were the only ones involving real estate. Coming from a large state school in the Southwest, I didn't have the opportunity to interview with any investment banks or Real Estate Acquisitions firms, since they mostly only recruited through Ivy league B-Schools. I completed 2 internships with commercial brokerages and now work in investment sales in California. While I enjoy sales(and I do pretty nicely for being 23y.o), I know that I only want to be a broker for 5-10 years, if that. I'd like to work in acquisitions, or possibly in the capital markets.
Without a flashy degree or summer investment banking analyst experience, I figure eventually I will need to get a graduate degree to get my foot into any type of prestigious firm(or anything to do with finance). I know that in real estate, experience is more important than education. But once you get out of brokerage and into finance, eventually an advanced degree is needed. I have found that while brokerage is lucrative, it is also at the very bottom of the spectrum of respect-level in real estate, for the most part.
What is the reputation of NYU's Masters of Real Estate program? I have heard that you can take the first year online(as the Real Estate Certificate) and then transfer into the Master's program. Since I live in California, I am considering completing the online portion on top of my brokering, than eventually moving to New York for my 2nd year, since that is where most of the real estate finance firms are located. The plan is to get an internship(or summer analyst) experience with a bank and turn that into an entry-level analyst position.
I'd say the easiest (and most interesting) way would be to start your own acquisitions company after killing it in sales for a few years. Use the contacts, clients and money saved up to start a fund for yourself.
On that same note, how much different is it if you are coming from investment sales at Eastdil. Are you still considered a broker or are your exit opps on par with REIB exit opps?
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