Debating making the move from a 100-$500m REPE Associate to REIT ER Associate role
Background:
- Top tier university direct to current position (no IB analyst/investment sales experience)
- Closed >$250m total in direct property and corporate RE platform investments over ~3 years
Reasons to move:
- No discretionary capital raising vehicle => deals raised on a deal-by-deal basis with no consistent/recurring LPs, stagnating opportunities/resume
- Specific niche is challenging for value-add strategies => long-term promote prospects not attractive
- Learn more RE asset types classes outside of niche
- Network opps with REIT mgmt and buyside
- Higher expected total compensation by 20%+
Exit plan:
- Public REIT focused HF or LO (i.e. Cohen & Steers, Brookfield, Snow Park, Long Pond, Land & Buildings, etc)
- Back to REPE
- Lateral transfer to REIB then REPE
- Business school, IB Associate, REPE
Not sure if I should be patient for the right opportunity or get out now. Advice appreciated.
This sounds like a v bad idea. Is there a reason you can’t lateral to another RE shop from your current employer?
Leaving a PE investment position for public market research with the idea of going back to PE makes no sense and will be very hard to do.
If your end goal is to be with a more sophisticated REPE shop I would try to lateral directly or try to get in with a leading IS or IB team in your market and then go back. Given you went a good school and you’re already in REPE, grad school doesn’t make too much sense and this equity research idea really makes no sense.
Appreciate the feedback.
I agree and having been trying to lateral to more a sophisticated REPE shop for around two years now. Only got a handful of opportunities for better REPE and REIB positions going through all the traditional channels (SelectLeaders, recruiters, careers page, network) but no luck yet. Generally hear from recruiters/hiring managers top tier shops prefer IB/IS stamp of approval and have had a better experience with those candidates than with lateral buyside hires at the Associate level. My group's strategy is very niche so skill set could be seen as less transferable for broad RE mandates or other niche strategies (industrial, self-storage, etc.).
I have a good network in the public REIT HF/LO world at the higher end. Thought ER to HF could a better avenue to explore. Getting hired for an Analyst role there would likely require a REIT specific analysis skill set.
You know your network better than we do. If ER and public markets interest you, don’t let us stop you. If you think you’ve got the chops to be successful in the HF industry, it’s not a bad industry to be in... additionally I will recognize that HFs have been known to act as LP investors in private real estate deals (Baupost) in addition to their public markets activities so you might even get the best of both worlds.
Reading the above made me dizzy, do you mean all of that or just one on the list? (I'm guessing you mean one of the four, but this is WSO, weirder things have happened).
First a question, how long have you been in this current role (is the the 3 years that goes along with the volume statement)?
To be honest this sounds like a "backwards lateral" especially since 3 out of 4 of your ideas land you back into a role like the one you have. And REIT ER literally takes you out of real estate (its a pure finance type role, from the view of any true real estate person), so you leave the game to try and get back in it?
Frankly, I'd sit until headhunted out to a good role (network as well of course). Other than the 20% comp upside, I don't see how this is forward career progress (UNLESS you like/want the ER role and or REIT investments in general, in which case return to principal roles is not your plan).
Exit plan should be relabeled "potential exit paths".
Been there for a little over 3 years now (since undergrad). What's driving this is more of a lack of conviction in current strategy/ability to raise capital (main LP has been off limits for the last ~1.5 years with no end in sight, non-performance related). I can definitely sit tight and keeping chopping wood on the lateral REPE or REIB/IS recruiting front. Maybe ask for a match and keep going but not building the deal sheet right now.
I'd prefer to stay in REPE and continue on that path I started but have to evaluate all opportunities as they come up and determine what has the best odds for success. You're right this would be a step back and lateral. Reading your comment really is driving home the point that ER back to private is not going to happen so that's helpful to confirm. I do have a solid network in REIT HF/LO world which would require a REIT specific skill set so that's why I was considering.
Given you added detail (mainly confirming the 3 year mark), I would definitely not advise doing any pure, let-alone backward lateral moves. You should only take a job that is a legit bump in title, pay, and/or firm (type/size... or whatever you perceive), and really all three (or at least two out of the three). If you do a jump like this, you are sort of hitting reset on your career, not accelerating it. Could you go back to private real estate after ER? I won't say it's impossible, but you are really moving out of real estate so networking and just being "in the know" will be really tough. REIT ER is just a form of sector coverage, easier to jump to TMT ER than to REIT (my humble opinion).
You are almost at that point were you could get headhunted away, I'd only target legit move up jobs. Great time to work the network. I see no need to swing at this. Getting the 20% pay bump from another firm in the real estate field is not unrealistic at all.
In terms of prestige it generally goes:
1) IB
2) Elite REIT (commonly referred to as eREITs at Harvard/Yale/Princeton)
3) REPE
4) Development
5) Average REIT (not referred to as aREITs at the ivys)
6) Anything else
HA this account... MensaMan w the H logo, love it. this prestige ranking is not too far off either
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