Advice for Breaking Into Buy side RE: Late to the Game (Target 3.5+ GPA, RE IB , Corporate PE)

Hi guys,

I'm at an ivy league, and I've come to realize that corporate finance really isn't for me. I interned at a top boutique RE IB/investment sales shop and realized that RE acquisitions is where I want to be.

Where should I start? I've been reaching out and networking with people, and have gotten some traction (?? they just told me to send them my resume).

Tbh (at the risk of sounding pretentious) I thought they would be somewhat impressed with my LBO/corporate private equity experience, but its not really talked about. They're more interested in my investment sales internship last summer.

So.. now I'm trying to find how the real estate job market works... been doing coverage IB recruiting for a long time.

Is it possible for me to land a buy side position and if not would the best alternative be to work in investment sales or real estate (coverage)IB or real estate financing?

 
azndarkvader:

Thanks. Do you know if my corporate PE role will be looked down on?

Absolutely not in any way/shape/form. Cannot imagine why that would ever happen. I would actually agree with your initial expectation that real estate guys would be impressed with your prior experience rather than unimpressed.
 
Best Response

I don't think that your corporate PE experience hurts you at all, but a lot of people you are meeting with, while impressed, may not know enough about corporate PE to see how it translates to RE/ask good questions. So they stick to questions about the direct RE experience you do have.

I've interviewed a few career switchers coming out of b-school while on panels and it happens all of the time. A lot of people almost ignore the 4 years the person was an accountant or in corporate finance and just focus on the parts of the resume that are RE related (internships, coursework, clubs, etc.).

I personally am really interested in the non-RE things, because I think the diversity in skill set/history is really what makes RE such a great industry - you don't need the "perfect" background to make it. One of the best CRE guys I know was a sports agent for 3 or 4 years out of university. He came to RE because his father passed away and he and his brother inherited three small shopping centers. The years as a sports agent made him a monster in the leasing/investment sales world, and owning those centers plus that experience has led him to build a fairly size able AM shop 15 years later.

 

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