Monkeys,
-Long time lurker, first time poster. Some background on me...
-Non-target state school 3.55 qpa, Finance major (3.8 gpa), Econ minor (December 2012 grad)
-Taking CFA L1 in June
I recently accepted an offer at a commercial bank as an RE credit analyst (starting in 3 weeks). The position sounds interesting and I feel like I'll definitely learn a lot about the industry. However, my ultimate career goal is something in valuation/acquisitions. Would it be possible to move to a REIT after a year or so? Has anyone ever made the switch? Just looking for some guidance/opinions here, thanks guys.
I have friends who work in RE Credit Risk. There isn't really any modeling / valuation in that group - you basically risk rate loans and corporations via a pre-defined model. I would suggest do a couple of years there and then try to move into RE Investment Banking.
^^^This is not true at all. You are actually lending to RE based on its value, so you need to get it right. In addition to this, you are evaluating the market, performing economic research. You'll be interacting with REITs so it will be good networking as well. I know a guy at one of the largest public REITs in the country and he started out as a credit analyst in RE for some small bank.
I'm not certain that OP is talking about RE Capital Markets, or RE Credit Risk. If it's credit risk, then they do what I said they do, else they do what you're saying.
But regardless as far as Valuation goes, no PE shop would trust with your valuation skills you gained in RE Capital Market / Credit. Trust me, I know this firsthand - been experiencing this recently. If you want to get into REPE / RE Investing / Acquisitions, REIB is the way.
Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it. The position is in RE commercial lending (underwriting). I was trying to use this as a way to break into RE because I have no prior experience in the field.
what do you mean by RE, do you mean RE PE, or simply a REIT? If private equity is your goal, then it will be difficult, but REITs are a very realistic exit opp.
Trying to exit to REIT... How long should I be looking to stay before trying to lateral?
Depends on the size of your bank and the size of its deals. If your deals are big, you will have REITs as clients, it will be very easy to network. However, if your bank is small, it will be fairly difficult. How big is your bank? By assets?
Its a small bank with only $10B in assets
Yea thats very small. I don't think your deal sizes will be that big since your bank will be limiting exposure for each facility. Anyways I think you will have a better understanding once you start. Let it play out. Even though the bank is smaller, think about it this way, you are in a good position if you are interested in RE. Right now your focus should be learning.
I'd say your best bet would be 2 years here --> 2 years at a big bank underwriting --> MBA --> REIT/REPE/REIB. My opinion.
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