RE Credit Analyst as Entry Career Choice into CRE?

Monkeys, Humans and those in between,

-Been reading forums for a bit, thought I’d ask for some tips/info
-My Background: 2yrs removed from college with business & finance major. Work experience from college till recently was residential RE investing family business.

I’ve become keenly interested in commercial real estate (as a minority, I don’t bump into people in the space so wasn’t on radar) and am questioning best roles to get into based on my career objectives. Ultimately, after going through law school I’d want to work in the commercial real estate &/or energy sector with companies that have real estate related issues to tackle. Was thinking PE eventually with investor as ultimate “goal" , but, is a while away at least so focused on getting a good CRE background first.

I’ve spent some time learning CRE concepts & REFM stuff to become generally familiar with it regardless of job type I will get. My priorities when looking at entry jobs is the following.
1 - In a position to learn underwriting for a variety of CRE types so that I have more flexibility to specialize in a CRE type later on as well as great opportunity to learn about evaluating different product types if possible.
2 - Good base comp & some degree of work/life balance (ok with working weekends occasionally). Also, comp is important to an extent because I have intentions of going to law school within 2.5yrs or less and thus, would need some $$.
3 - Opportunity for career advancement during these market conditions with an eye on a path into principal side.
*Some notes - Not keen on living in large large city (like NY) or hellishly expensive living costs that eat into my soul…&savings ability (SF). Willing to move but don’t want to be stuck in the country with little deal flow and not great life accommodations either (was a military brat in the country for a bit so is a straight No for me, sorry if I offend some).

I was thinking working as a credit analyst - commercial real estate (for a MM bank or bigger ideally) or for a CRE lender would be a great place to learn the game but would like your thoughts on if this is correct. My main concern based on searching these forums and job descriptions though, are credit analysts that don’t get exposed to CRE in-depth enough or lending positions that pigeon holes oneself with limited career flexibility or lateraling.

Any thoughts on how the process looks to get into these ^ roles or suitable ones are much appreciated. Apologize for the long post, but as an outsider thought I’d clarify first than being asked later.

Thanks,