I'm currently working at a Real Estate 'Consulting' firm doing appraisal work on commercial real estate properties of large AM clients. I was wondering if anyone knows whether this is a good stepping stone to do RE IBD/PE/AM in the future? Or would it be very hard to make that leap since there isn't much overlap in the work?
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This topic has come up before. The answer--in my mind--is that it really depends. What college/university did you attend and what was your major? Is the appraisal/consulting firm you're presently at well known or it is a "mom-and-pop" shop? How about your other work experience or internships?
It also depends what PE/IBD/AM firm you're looking at and what region and how hot the market is.
I think it depends on how much modeling/valuation experience you get at your current job.
Thanks for your reply. I went to a semi-target majoring in business/finance. My current firm is bigger than a mom-and-pop, with international offices. But it's not as big as a household name like CBRE. I do have previous internships in finance/banking. And I would be most interested in working in RE IBD at a bulge bracket bank.
I think you have a chance. Just don't spend too much time in appraisal or you'll get pigeonholed into it by prospective employers. 1-2 years is a good stint. Appraisal can definitely be sold as relevant work experience.
Bump. Anyone else know how applicable commercial real estate appraisal is to BB real estate AM or IB?
Not very. Other than your argus skills, costar familiarity and excel skills-- anything you do besides that is basically useless in the alternative field listed. My 2 cents at least.
Let's set aside real estate; let's say you appraise aircraft. You think because you're good at appraising commercial airplanes, someone is going to staff you on M&A transactions in the airline industry?
I started in appraisal out of UG in 2006 (target school with a bad GPA). I had to make a few lateral moves (back office, internal valuations for a distressed debt group) before I was able to hustle my way into an AM job (debt at a major life co). After 3.5 years of paying my dues and working my ass off, I was just offered one of the two open Acquisition Associate spots for a new value add/core plus fund that is being created.
The lateral moves did cost me a fair amount of time, I just turned 30 (so probably 4 years lost), but since being a 35 year old MD wasn't really on the to-do list, i don't really care.
My journey was probably pretty abnormal, but I do know of at least three other former appraisers who are now either acquisitions/originators/AM. So I would say appraiser to AM/PE is possible, but appraisal to RE IB is probably a long shot unless you add in a 4.0 GPA from a top 3 MBA program + some amazing internships.
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