When did you "figure it out"?

what I mean by title is, when did you really figure out what area of RE you wanted to be in and when did you eventually get to a role that gave you a solid experience/foumdation? I graduated 2.5 years ago and ended up in a corp Finance type role with F50 and realized I wanted CRE so I jumped at a position with a reputable firm however it's not really what I thought it would be. now im 2.5 years out of school and I'll have to start the job search looking for Analyst gigs once again. I would like to get in with an established bank or Lifeco so I know exactly what I'm getting myself into instead of joining some boutique shop and having the chance I hate it and spinning my wheels once again. I really don't know whether I want AM, Dev, lending,etc.. I really just want to get a solid foundation in underwriting of some sort and go from there. Is this normal in this industry to feel this way? I'm also contemplating just getting my MSRE and go from there

 

jumped from a brokerage analyst role to an AM role. Hated AM, really missed the rush of brokerage and the relationship-building that goes into it. Hated getting so granular in detail, and wasting so much time on stupid things (like pricing door knob replacements). Transitioned from my AM role to my Acquisitions role and find it to be a great balance between the more technical aspects of RE and the relationship side of the industry.

 

"when did you really figure out what area of RE you wanted to be in"

I went to grad school for an MBA. I networked like there was no tomorrow. Not only with current students, whom had great experience, but with anyone in the alumni network who would pick up the phone. I would sit down each night searching for people in RE and look them up online; I would reach out to any one that seemed interesting. Through all of these conversations, I found my tribe; the people that I naturally connected with and the people whose experiences resonated with me. Fortunately, the vast majority of these folks were developers, and thus I knew development was the route for me.

As a student, you have an advantage as you can portray yourself as an innocent grad student just trying to find their way in life. Don't underestimate the power of this, especially as people like to talk about themselves (offering you industry insights in the process) and people have an innate desire to help other people (after all, they were in your shoes at some point).

Grad school is a great option.

-SD

 

I understand your position. If you are contemplating an Master of Real Estate program, I concur that this may not be the best next step. However, an MBA is a very general degree and will not bind you to a specific industry. Given on campus resources and alumni network, assuming you go to a top program, I would argue there is no better way to figure life out. Debt is certainly an obstacle, but it will be one of the best investments of your life.

 

undergrad--I thought architects made all the decisions and knew my senior year I would want to be in development one day. worked two construction management jobs before going back to a T20 MBA. interned 2/4 semesters of my full time program, and spent the summer at a MF REPE investment shop, only to realize that while the numbers are sexy and modeling is fun, I was more interesting in the 'doing'. now in my dream job (development) and a firm I never thought I'd have a chance to work for back in undergrad. moral of the story: figure out where you want to be, set milestones to track yourself along the way, and go after it. not everyone lands their dream job out of college nor do they know what that job may be at age 22.

 

Im currently doing my undergrad, rising junior, and am curious about the RE industry. I have a few offers for next summer in IB, and RE (finance debt, and equity). I have never been exposed to RE development. Mind elaborating on the differences, pros, and cons? Trying to find the right path for me

 

I've known I wanted to be in RE since high school. However, back then the thought was to pursue the residential side of the equation, working with investors/flipping houses and smaller apartment buildings. In school, I actually worked for a couple of different brokers that focused on residential investment properties and flipped a couple of properties for myself. I ended up graduating and taking a job as a commercial appraiser. I quickly realized that appraisal wasn't for me and fell into a mortgage servicing job. As I worked more with the Asset Management team that I supported, I figured out that AM was really what I wanted to do. I waited out the recession working in distressed debt valuation and pounced when the debt AM job I wanted opened up. I've been in some permutation of AM/PM ever since.

 
Best Response

I don't think that you are alone feeling a bit lost as a young analyst in RE. Because RE is made up of a bunch of smaller shops, there is a distinct lack of transparency and standardization in our field which makes learning and comparing jobs hard. If you look at the comp thread, you will see analysts making from 50k to 100k with bonuses ranging from 0 to 100%. while if you went to the IB board, you would see way more standardization. The way jobs line up and hierarchy is the same way. Some lenders split originations and underwriting, some don't. Some equity shops AM and Property Management are different, at some it is the same. I think that while you might be able to figure out generally what you want from the outside looking in, most people need to be on the inside looking around to know exactly what they want to do/focus on.

 

I knew I wanted to be a developer within 6 months of working in CRE. It took me 2.5 years, some wavering, and then 2 years of grad school, to accomplish it.

Just keep driving toward the goal, however slow traffic may be.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

How much do you think your graduate degree helped w/ cre dev? Or would you say it was more so you could just land the position?

Edit: Thank you for not answering this question. I forgot the AMA you did.

“Bestow pardon for many things; seek pardon for none.”
 
i FuckingLove RE:
How much do you think your graduate degree helped w/ cre dev? Or would you say it was more so you could just land the position?

Edit: Thank you for not answering this question. I forgot the AMA you did.

I can still answer it.

The degree definitely helped. I'm not sure it helped proportionate to the amount I paid for it or the time I spent in it, but it 100% helped.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I was all in on Investment Banking up until last fall...

In a couple hours I had changed direction completely. One of our finance clubs on campus was scrambling for a fill-in guest speaker and ended up landing a local developer. The guy walked in wearing a t-shirt, jeans and flip flops. He began walking us through a project he was working on. This developer had purchased an old dilapidated school building with tax credits and basically zero money down. He was planning to re-position it into a retro Senior Living Community. I was hooked. I dug in and starting doing some research on how a finance background would fit. Then pounded the phones until I had landed a couple internships.

I'm a couple weeks away from wrapping up the FT interview process. It's amazing how everything can hit you at once! From what I've observed in the past year or so.... Real Estate doesn't always follow the traditional finance career path that you read about on here. With enough networking and sweat equity you can find a solid place to get your feet wet.

I've had a lot of success doing some self taught modeling. You can track down tons of case studies online. Best of luck to you!

 

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