opps in REITs?

I'll be a senior next year at a top 5 target majoring in Econ with a gpa of 3.547 (sooo close to being able to round it up...)

I'm currently interning at CITIC Securities in Beijing. For those who haven't heard of it, CITIC is the biggest I-bank (Edit: not ibank, securities company, my bad) in China but that's honestly not really saying much considering how under-developed China's domestic banking industry is.

My group is pretty interesting. It's a specialty division split off from mostly the larger real estate group and we are currently in the process of designing and hopefully marketing the very first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in China. I've been here for two weeks now doing a ton of research on the global market and chances are good that I'll have a very good understanding (though probably superficial) of REITs by the time I leave. And of course, I will likely have a pretty good understanding of the design process of Asian REITs. I've grown very fond of the REITs market and am getting very interested in the prospects of doing something REITs related after graduation.

So I have a few questions

First - how marketable is my summer experience? Granted it's not a top BB but CITIC is quite a force in China. I also think that my group is very interesting. But I'm not sure if it's interesting in a good or bad way.

Second - I have never done any research on jobs having to do with REITs and I know that very few REITs or employers that directly deal with REITs recruit at my school. So what are some of the opportunities I should be looking at? How is working at a REIT compared to a BB? How do I even get in a REIT? How about a REIT at a BB?

Thanks

 

Not sure about the whole "working in REITs out of college" thing, I'm interested in that myself also. I have to think your experience will be very marketable towards real estate investment banking groups in the US as their main clients are REITs (I've also been told lots of those anlysts exit to REITs along with REPE).

 

Yea I have a feeling working at a REIT (at least a legit position that's not accounting or something) is more of an exit opp out of real estate IB and is not really an option straight out of college. But I would love some input from someone in the know.

I've been doing a bit of research myself on career opps in the various top US REITs but all I find are stuff like accounting, administrative assitant, mall manager, etc.

Of course real estate IB came up pretty early in my research but are those even hiring these days?

 
Best Response

I didnt really mean exactly a "REIT at a BB". I meant more of a REIT division, which i guess doesnt really exist.

I never said I'm going to come out knowing everything about REITs. All I said was that I should come out with a good understanding. Sure I probably should have said "superficial" understanding but I'm a lazy typer.

I apologize for calling CITIC an IBank. It's simply what the people here call it in Chinese. Eh, maybe the definition means more than it does in Chinese than in English. And fyi CITIC DOES have a M&A department but I have no idea how strong it is so I won't argue with you there.

Thank you, oh mighty one for your incredible advice I am very graced that a Banking god like you took time out of his packed day to answer my question on this forum.

Oh and I'm guessing to "do REITs" means somehow putting my member in one and pulling off the old in-out?

Not sure though. Care to enlighten me?

 
b2:
ur the idiot who said it, not me, so i wouldn't know. good luck at your second-rate job.

Thank you. Good luck on your top-notch job whereever you work. You probably feel great swinging your huge balls around.

The whole trying to get the best job possible with the highest salary possible gig really isn't for me. I'd rather do something I'm really interested in and right now that's real estate.

And to continue on with the real estate estate discussion...

What about real estate in developing nations like China and other parts of Asia? I'd have to admit that although I would like to get some good skills first at US companies, my ultimate goal is to do something with real estate in developing areas. The US market is a bit too mature for my tastes. However, the fact that the high depressed market does hold some great potential for growth in the next decade really does interest me.

 

I'm not in the know, but RE is just something im also very interested in.

The RE market is still crap right now - properties are all being traded at big discounts, and a lot of players have just been sitting on the sideline waiting for financing to be available again, some might have started to pick up distressed properties cause of the value (if they have equity available). Good thing is, that means there will be a lot of potential once the market starts to pick up again, but as of right now there probablly aren't too many REITs doing more than minimal recruiting. And like you said, many of those jobs are accounting/admin/property management type that aren't going to teach you what you are interested in, which i assmue has more to do with investing.

REITs invest in real estate properties, which is given, so at the forefront of the investment teams you should have people who do acquisitions of individual properties or portfolio of properties.

RE IB is definitely a great entry, but if you look at the bios of people at large REITs/REPEs many have background from firms like Tishman Speyer/CBRE/Jones Lang Lasalle. imo What RE IB teaches you is banking in the real estate sector, hence working with REITs, but with the RE specialty firms you are more focused on investing in RE properties and/or defining the value of RE properties (given the right division), so you are more in tune with the how to invest in properties, much like how to pick stocks. Where as banking you understand more how RE companies operate.

Of course it was only a few months ago when all the large RE specialty firms were laying off thousands of people. You can read about the catastrophies that are projects like Sty Town. There are also a lot of smaller mortgage banking firms and RE investment/ development firms that can be great entry points. I guess what I'm kind of hinting at is that while RE IB great for entry, it's not the only way and it's probablly more competitive than many of the alternatives. I would love to hear anybody else's thoughts on this thread too, this site doesn't have alot of RE stuff.

 

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