Would I get hired after graduation?
I have a year left at a state college (Texas State University) and would would like some input yall think I would have any issue getting hired after college. I'm thinking either analyst or appraisal for a few years and save some money and become a broker.
Facts/assumptions:
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Age: 24
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Degree: Computer Information Systems
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GPA: 3.0-3.2
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Marketplace: Houston
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Internship experience: Currently at a marketing firm doing web design.
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No impressive job experience. Just retail.
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I do have a connection through my Dad to someone that is high up with CBRE. We have briefly spoken but he is willing to talk with me.
Assume from now until graduation I've studied CRE extensively, networked a fair bit, and become an expert in excel, argus...whatever software is valuable. Have gained knowledge of the marketplace, etc. From now until I graduate I plan on doing whatever it takes to prepare myself for the job.
With all of the above, what do yall think? And where can I learn to use excel and argus how someone in the industry would use it? What else should I try to be learning? Thanks in advance
Yeah, you're fine. Relax.
Seeing the struggles of other members on here make me pretty nervous.
You won't be an expert in Argus and Excel without on the job experience, so I would set your expectations accordingly on that front. Just know the basics, network your ass off and be patient and you should be fine.
True. By expert I meant good enough to prove it and have trust that I would be capable of doing whatever they want me to do, or capable of learning. Honestly looking through these threads have made me even more nervous. I have a whole year until I'll be on the job market, so I do have plenty of time to prepare myself, but it seems like a lot of people struggle pretty hard to find their first CRE job.
It should make you feel better. 90% of it is networking which is in your control, and 10% is luck which is out of your control and you can't do anything about anyway, so being nervous doesn't make any sense.
As others have said you are fine. Just start networking, be persistent but not annoying. When you meet your dads friend soak up everything he has to say, and then towards the end ask him to connect you to one or two more people. When you meet them ask them the same question. Doing that will grow your network pretty quickly.
You could also look around San Marcos and see if any local CRE guys or developers need an intern, or even offer to volunteer like 10-15 hours a week. Spin that on your resume as a relevant internship paired with your networking and you will be golden.
Your worries are normal. When I was in school it seemed like everyone was able to get a job in CRE and that the market was crazy hot. The last semester things seemed to slow down and I only saw about 1/3 of the job postings I was normally seeing.
Things will work out and you will be fine. Just control what you can which at this point is networking.
I doubt San Marcos will have any opportunity as it is a tiny college town, but that is a good idea. Next fall and semester I will not be working at all and focusing 100% on school (and networking and learning more about CRE), so I will likely have some time aside for anything, even if it's volunteer work.
What else can I do besides networking? I keep asking what I should be doing and all I'm getting from everyone is to go out and network. I know nothing about this business. Where can I start learning? I don't want to network with people and not even know what they're talking about and not have anything to contribute. I want to know how to do what someone with a job knows how to do, or at least be able to demonstrate to an employer that I have the skills to easily transition into an analyst role. Already can tell I should learn more one excel and argus. How about REFM? I want to spend this next year networking, and learning. Not just networking.
I started my career in Houston. I think that finding an analyst spot as an appraiser wouldn't be that hard. An analyst spot might be a bit harder because there aren't a whole lot of RE companies/groups down there. Yes, all of the brokerages have fairly large offices there and Hines is headquartered there, but otherwise there aren't a whole lot of other RE companies in the market.
Honestly, you would probably be better off in Dallas where there is more RE/banking than in Houston if you didn't want to go Appraisal.
If you do want to go Appraisal, join the Appraisal Institute and try and go to a few of their meetings. Great networking events because pretty much all appraisers in the country are a part of the group.
Either appraisal or analysis is fine with me. I'd like to go into a broker position after a few years though. I plan on staying in Houston as all of my family and friends live out here. I'll definitely look into that.
If you want to go brokerage and can swing being a little poor for a while (my suggestion would be to live at home for a few years), then I would try for brokerage right off the bat. It will be harder to move from Appraisal to brokerage a few years down the line because once you start building a book/business, while you now have a great set of contacts, leaving a job where you make money to start a new commission/fee split job is going to be hard. You can do pretty well as an appraiser (I cleared close to 90k my first year out of school), and once I started bringing home checks like that, I was not prepared to ever go backwards even for the lure of making big money at a brokerage.
CBRE, C&W and HFF all have big offices in Houston. If your dad knows a big CBRE guy, then he can put you in contact with people at all of the other brokerages. Start there and start early.
Good luck.
I have seen a lot of people mention making around that their first year doing appraisals, and that is a great starting salary. What is the earning potential though? And what is the typical career path in that line of work? If it has a very high earning potential then I would definitely consider it. Yes, hopefully he can. We have sent a few texts but he seems very busy, and said he needs to work me into his calendar and that is basically where we left off for now.
Being a principal at your own firm, with an MAI and a couple of licensees under you, you could easily clear mid 6 figures.
For me, the problem with appraisal was that it felt more like a job vs. a career (sort of how I view accounting). The learning curve is steep and you will touck all sorts of things in CRE, valuation, tax code, property code, architecture, etc. but once you know it the curve flattens out a lot and you reach a point where you aren't really learning all that much.
How long would it take to get to that position? And what is an MAI? I'm sure I would be pretty damn happy about a mid 6 figure salary but my goal is to eventually be in the 7 figures.
That honestly sounds pretty terrible. I mean, I wouldn't mind doing it for a few years, maybe 3-5, but hopefully no more than that.
MAI is a designation given by the Appraisal Institute. Minimum of 2 years, but most likely 3 to get designated (4,500 hour requirement).
Setting up your own shop is a different story. That could take years or you may never do it because you make enough from a C&W or a CBRE and don't want to take on the overhead.
Got you. Would a firm hire me while I'm still getting my appraising license? Cause if not I basically assume that would make me unemployed until I'm licensed?
You can make good money in appraisal, just be prepared that appraisal can be painful in a lot of ways. It's not like other paths where you don't have to deal with minutiae after a certain point in your career. Good appraisers have to wade through that stuff basically throughout their entire trajectory. Personally, I don't think I could deal with all of the detail over and over again that goes into creating those reports, but to each their own.
You won’t have a problem getting hired out of school as a trainee.
What is the usual pay of a trainee? And how long does it take to lose that title?
There is an actual state license you need to be an appraiser, similar to being a RE agent. There are two levels, trainee and general. Trainee is the first 18 months. General is after that (there is education and experience requirements to get that license). And then there is the MAI designation which is a professional designation and not from the state.
Appraisal is all fee split. Figure 35% as a trainee (split gets higher as you get more experience). Usually, expenses are taken off the top and then you split, similar to brokerage.
When I worked in Houston, appraisals ran from 3k to 10k. But there was enough business that you don't have to travel all that much (your biggest expense would normally be gas/mileage), so you were splitting the majority of the fee.
If you want to make 100k, you need to bring in 300k net in fees. If you figure 6k each, you need to do 50 a year, or one a week.
Really though, the big money is in working for a fund/institutional owner as most get appraisals quarterly. It will be something like a full report yearly and a restricted report quarterly. If you charge 6k for the yearly and then 2k for each update, you are talking 12k a year for a property across their whole portfolio. Get a couple of funds with several assets in TX and you can pull in hundreds of thousands with very little work (the report writing is easier if you already know a property because things like SF and construction date doesn't change, it is really only your value assumptions and model).
I do all of our appraisal ordering for our debt closings. We do about 25 deals a year with 3 companies. Our average fee is around 10k. Our equity group has 10 assets and they have the annual/quarterly split thing. Figure that my office covering PA and north spends around 400k a year on appraisals.
I don’t understand how you can make good money in appraisal. 3.8 reports a week at 5k a pop gets you $1,000,000 in sales. As you ramp up to that level of volume, you need more staff to help out which raises your costs. Traveling to the site is a big fixed cost per appraisal too.
Just sounds like super slim margins and a nightmare to try to get up and running. Unless office appraisals are more like 10k? I don’t know
Whitestone REIT, Camden Property Trust, The Howard Hughes Co. (although this is the woodlands and HQ is in Dallas) are also in Houston. But yea, Dallas is a far better not for RE.
I'm confused, are you saying Houston is better than Dallas? I'm definitely moving back to Houston after I graduate, just curious.
breaking into wall street is a good course. Message me
Won't let me message you since I'm a new member
Network like hell. Sign up for Bisnow or bizjournals in your market to find out who is doing deals... email brokers, developers, etc if an article is written about them, a deal they worked on, etc. Congratulate them and ask to grab coffee to learn more about their experience and what made them successful. You are also looking for an analyst role, check selectleaders, linkedin, etc as well. Shouldn't be challenging for you to find something if you network.
Ask good bullshit questions and say you want to learn from the ground up as an analyst. Go on CB, JLL, cushman, etc website, understand market dynamics on rents, renewal rates, construction, etc to have a conversation and get their opinion on the Texas market.
When you email, say you will be calling them on XYZ date a couple of days later. This makes people respond more because they anticipate you will call them which makes them feel bad. I only email VP and above when I do this.
Play the game to get in the game!
Good advice, thanks. I plan on starting that process when I've gained a bit more knowledge of CRE and can actually have a conversation about it without asking too much.
Funny you say that, I just picked up "The Real Estate Game" today...looking forward to reading it.
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