RE Help: finding my way over 40 -- Gene Parmesan / Brofessor / RE_Banker Anyone
I posted in another forum regarding my attempt to enter into finance at a late age. I was advised and agree that real estate may be a likelier arena for me than the traditional industrial level banking jobs.
Thank you for your time and any consideration. It's very significant to me. As I said in another forum, I'm 43 and feeling the pain of a life deeply misdirected. I'd not call it a midlife crisis, rather, a midlife realization that it's all passing me by and I feel this may be a last window of opportunity to alter my path for the positive with some help. I'm really struggling.
Brief: I graduated from an unremarkable university with a finance degree in 1995 (Texas Tech). After graduation I took two years in the Rockies working/snowboarding. In 1998 I returned home (DFW) and began working for my family's business, an interior design business, that has done well for 35+ years.
I've worked for my family's business from the day I returned home to present so my resume reflects just that. I worked initially out of their genuine need for my help and some degree of enjoyment in the creativity and sales-end of it. Years passed, the business did relatively well, but I'm now stuck and wanting to perhaps transition into real estate as a branch of finance.
I have a 20 year old degree in finance and many years of sales experience. My house is paid and I'm OK for food. My concern is taking my last breath 30 or 40+ years from now knowing I did nothing to try and redirect my path at mid-life toward a career I'd actually like to engage in.
My question is: given my age and lack of background and experience will I be able to gain regular employment at a real estate firm (non Realtor positions) or am I left to just invest as an individual on my own? A regular day job is my goal.
I'm also confused as to what job titles there are within larger real estate firms if anyone has a link to a good resource that describes possible positions. Thank you for any help.
Thanks for any patience. So essentially there are these (and other) forms of real estate 'entities', 'groups' or 'jobs' however you'd prefer to refer to them. I'm trying to grasp what is out there.
REITS: real estate investment trusts REPE: real estate private equity REIB: real estate investment banking RE Hedge Funds Asset Management Developers Brokerage Houses
Equity Research Coverage of RE-industry and others
I'm getting the feeling I'm going to be SOL trying to "break-in" to any of these areas without being under 25 with a freshly minted degree from a top school and/or many years of experience and investing on my own may be the only possible route.
So you've been working in interior design for the past 2 decades, you would probably have a decent network of contractors/builders/developers that you've come into contact with, right? Have you spoken to any of them? The higher finance options are probably out unless you decided to go back to school and brush up, but development or RE Asset Management(depending on firm is essentially property management) would likely be possible to network into a junior role, maybe better depending on who you talk to and your experience. Honestly, RE is all relationships, ask around with those that you know and you may be surprised.
edit: JUNIOR role
Definitely do not feel discouraged.
You have options here. I think the exaspect has the right optic on this.
No man is an island in re and each person with a substantive skill-set has a role to play - and thus value to bring, and trade.
If you have been working in ID for 20 years then surely you have a great amount of local connections on the business side of real estate investing even if 2 degree of separation between you AND have a chit to throw into the game (ie, your ID skills which might cost a developer or re entrepreneur $[] amount going outside into the market). It could be possible with ingenuity and determination to trade that ID skill for a 6 month trial period (read: internship) at a small development shop and work your way into some type of hybrid perm development-associate role.
These small shops are incredibly lean and mean and saving money on fundamentals by bringing you in-house could be your unique "way in".
Summary:
You seem to have something valuable to trade in return for opportunity at a small shop. Start having info coffees as soon as possible and start building out your network, and you might find opportunity closer than you think. Pound sites like Linkedin and start reaching out. Aim for at least one coffee with a new contact in re per week.
I think the right kind of place would love your experience. Project managers are always needed and trust me, most growing offices could really, really use a dedicated ops guy (which you may be good at depending on what you did for the family business). Neither of those roles are specifically finance, but both would get you into the industry and get you with a company. Once there, you can either network your way to another role or try and transfer within the company.
To add in some anecdotal evidence, this summer I worked in acquisitions for a top local REPE firm that also did in-house management and construction. During my last month there, they acquired a ton of properties for value add so they went on a hiring spree for asset managers, project manager, and property managers. Of the 5 project managers they hired, 4 never had worked in real estate before, let alone project management. One lady in particular was a 50-ish year old woman who was the bookkeeper for her family's retail store up until they sold it.
Also, we used a specific interior design company all the time and they were always overpriced because all they did for us was help pick out fixtures, textures, and colors, or style signage. I guarantee if the right person pitched my own company doing this service in-house as even half of their full-time responsibilities they would have been hired and the company would have saved money in the process.
The opportunities are out there, Salinger Sure, Blackstone might be out, but hell, it's not really on the table for me either.
That is extremely helpful; I really can't tell you how much I appreciate those three posts above (thexaspect, Mr. Jaime Lannister and CRE), how well they happened to build upon one-another and how they help and encourage me. Thank you, sincerely.
thexaspect and Jaime: Yes, I have numerous contacts for each and every aspect of construction, home design and remodeling -- some of which I've known for near 20 years. I'll begin to ask around as I see your 2 degree's of separation mention, Jaime. I've just never viewed it in the context. Thank you, both.
What excites me, as you say, CRE, and thank you for precisely the anecdotal evidence I hope to hear about the bookkeeper, there are opportunities out there and I feel if I press-on I can at least break from my past become part of the industry at some capacity, finally changing my life path for the better -- Interior Design is a fine career; it's just not the road I wanted or intended for myself and, at midlife, want to see if I can finally pursue an area that actually captures/engages me.
It doesn't hurt that I live in the heart of a real estate oriented metroplex (I live in Plano). First step for me: I need to be less insecure about my age and my 18 year one-job-wonder background and start reaching out. Thanks again for the enlightenment, encouragement, time and help; it's more significant to me than you know.
Excellent to hear. Sometime all it takes is a dedicated change of perspective combined with a "baby steps" plan to create major life change. PM me if you need links (etc) to additional resources and materials to speed you on your way forward.
As Jamie has already stated, you should really just reach out to everyone you know in the industry and start networking. Also, never forget to ask the person if they know anyone else they could connect you with in. This will allow you to expand your network very fast.
Also, don't be insecure about your age. I ran a small construction contracting business while attending college and had several employees around your age. I really did not care about their age and I am sure most employers wont either if you explain your story as you did to us. At the end of the day, an employer is hiring someone to get a job done and it really doesn't matter what age that person is, as long as the job gets done.
I am certain that you will find opportunities.
I hope this helps. Good Luck !
Thanks for the added encouragement, takenotes and example of age indifference.
My only other question would be school as CRE mentioned. I have the time to do it but would it help to go back and take a Real Estate Program (UT Dallas) on top of my 20 year old finance degree (Texas Tech), at my age (43), would that be relevant to employers? I know it wouldn't hurt but would it be worth the while?
Dear Salinger, let me just share my experience shortly. I
m not from the US and I live in Europe. When I wanted to start dealing with real estate I just purchased my first flat, renovated it and sold. Ive been gained about 20% from this deal. I have invested for new 2 badroom property this year and Im going to sell it in 2 years. Meanwhile Im still working on my main place as a lawyer. So in my strong opinion work on yourself it`s better and the main is to start. And I started when I was 29. No doubts you will find what you need!Thank you Amilia; I appreciate any and all encouragement.
I have a similar problem with education. I always want some kind of formal training both to show prospective employers I know what I'm talking about and to have that baseline level of understanding of whatever it is. The problem is that with real estate it really doesn't matter. I'll be honest, you're likely not going to learn much more in an MSRE program at this point than you would with two years on the job as a junior whatever, and it's definitely not worth taking time off to do. A large part of a masters program is the network, and a lot of the strength of that network is based on quality of program. So MIT, Cornell, USC, etc are all widely regarded programs with great networks of highly placed executives and whatnot. I didn't know UT Dallas had an MSRE. That being said, assuming you're looking to stay in that specific regional market it's probably ok. I just wouldn't be looking to take time off to do it, I would look at networking into a junior role somewhere and after a couple of months of getting settled maybe look at going part time or something like that. It'll help you build your knowledge while working and where you can actually apply it. Plus if you're in the part time program(assuming they have one) you'll have other classmates to learn from and network with, which most would argue is the most important piece.
Since most of us responding assume you've already got a solid network in your area, instead of school for the time being try reading a couple of books and wrapping your head around the concepts. A lot of the orgs out there have books on every aspect of real estate out there. ULI has a few on development that would be worth your time, ICSC has retail focused stuff that can familiarize you with NNN leasing, NAIOP has a whole bunch too. The most important one people on here will probably tell you to read, and I totally agree is Peter Linneman's Real Estate Finance and Investments book. Don't just read it, but work through a lot of the problems. It'll give you every bit as solid of a background as doing an MSRE would, IMHO. Plus it's a textbook in most of those programs. Linneman has a PHD in economics and founded the real estate everything at Wharton. Widely regarded industry expert. If you get nothing else out of any of this, read that book.
TL;DR Network into a job and read the Linneman book while settling in. If you still feel it necessary 6 months later, consider a part time MSRE(online even, a few options there if you're not concerned with network)
You're welcome. RE is tough to get started in, but once you start reaching out in your job search you'll probably be surprised who knows who out there.
Forgot to mention before, a not as talked about on these boards option is NYU. They have the MSRE thing where you can do the first half online and blah blah, but they also offer a bunch of non credit courses where you can do like a short course just on RE Dev, finance, project management, whatever. So it wouldn't get you anywhere towards a degree, but if you think the "classroom"(online) environment would help you learn, or if you're like me and need the motivation, it's just another tool at your disposal. Here's a link: http://www.sps.nyu.edu/academics/noncredit-offerings/online.html
Good luck!
Dolorem fugit sed repellat. Est repellat est inventore libero nobis voluptatem. Sit sed ipsa nisi quisquam rerum.
Molestiae eum ut sed quo blanditiis cumque. Id est quos ut omnis ut omnis. Impedit qui id illum corrupti totam occaecati. Et nemo eum tempore illo illum ut. Possimus non omnis consequatur fugit. Omnis aut corrupti et et.
Numquam sapiente voluptatem perferendis earum quis libero. Nostrum et recusandae eligendi ut ducimus. Nam dolore aut alias est quaerat facere libero. Nam consectetur neque voluptatum fugit maiores.
Similique quam et ea nemo. Accusantium sed adipisci saepe dolor. Adipisci laboriosam facilis dolores sunt ea sunt ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...