Real Estate

Hello monkeys- Thought I might give back to the community that's helped me get to where I am and taught me about the world of finance. Here's a little about me: Educational Background: T-5 Magnet Public STEM High School (feeder into Ivy; 50% of graduating class of 69 went to an Ivy or quasi-Ivy)...

04 May 2022

I figured it would be helpful to ask these questions as well apart from the general advices for younger people: 1. How did you invest your money? Did you put a decent amount of your capital in public equities or just majorly real estate? If real estate, was is co-investments or did you do your own...

29 Jul 2022

I head PE/VC investing for a family office based in Asia. Our firm makes direct investments across the capital structure (private credit, PE/VC, public markets and real estate). Although we are direct investors (>95% of capital deployed are directs), we regularly review fund investment opportunities...

05 Jun 2022

Where do you see finance's biggest "white spaces" in this era? Let's assume your goal is to become a billionaire in financial services, to put it simply. Let's also assume tomorrow you're given $25 Million dollars carte blanche, as well as a healthy rolodex, to assist you on your journey toward this...

01 Aug 2022

Hey folks, Don't post here often, but wanted to share & answer any questions of aspiring FIN/RE folks. I've seen so many different things on this forum and others, many depicting the "right way" and "proper path" to go about things. I think an influx of people I've seen on both here and other forums...

06 Dec 2021

This is what I have for now, please feel free to add more as I don't think we cover enough info in RE comparing to other industries. I'm filtering out firms that pay >= 90k all in 1st year (in no particular order) and have had a good reputation for learning experience in the industry. Blackstone...

18 Jul 2022

I have been on this site for the past few years, and I just wanted to "give back" so to speak, and summarize all of the important pieces of information I have gathered. I hope it helps :) The Sales & Trading: Is dead!!! (not coming back) The Banking: Is dead!!! (booooooring) The PE: Is dead!!!...

04 Dec 2020

As we all probably know, Luxury real estate is an extremely cliquey industry to break into and become successful in. It seems that most people who manage to break into the industry and become successful either have been extremely lucky and worked very hard or have utilised their family connections....

25 Apr 2022

RE Monkeys, Am currently at a fork in the road in my career and would like to get some US views on getting into (NYC) RE/hospitality development in the next few years. Background: 1) UG at Oxbridge/LSE (3.5 GPA), MSc at continental European university that places into London IB/PE (3.8 GPA) 2)...

17 Feb 2022

Hey all, So I started at a large RE firm in an analyst class of 4. For some context, I started 3 weeks after graduating and quite honestly was a little burnt out from school, moving to a new city where I knew no one, etc. Now almost 6 months in, I definitely am in the bottom 2 of the pack. I am...

04 Nov 2021

I am almost 1 year out of college and work full time at a smaller real estate development company that develops luxury apartments (mixed use) in the greater NY area. I've been working here for ~9 months now, and have been tasked in all kinds of areas of development - diligence, financial/pro forma...

05 Apr 2021

I don't see too many Real Estate Q&As so I thought I'd give it a go. Happy to answer any questions related to MF real estate, financing, path, etc. My Background: Graduated from a semi target school and sort of fell into a real estate consulting role at a boutique consulting firm that advises state...

05 Mar 2021

Curious to see if any of you have pulled the trigger on owning property yourselves. I'm putting in offers on buildings in Cleveland between 7-15 units so crossing my fingers I'll have a deal under contract by end of Jan!

04 Jan 2020

As the title says, I'm currently trying to grasp which is generally the better route. I understand everyone has their own opinion on which is best, but I'm hoping to learn from you all to make that choice myself. These are the main things I understand about the two sides: GP (invests a smaller...

29 Oct 2020

Each quarter I see increased late cycle behavior in the real estate world. From vast amounts of SFR home flipping at an institutional level (see Door/Zillow/Redfin) to development sponsors needing to farm out their 10% equity pieces due to insufficient cash at the operations level plus the...

14 Oct 2019

I interned for an vertically integrated developer in a Tier 1 city and will have the chance to be an acquisitions analyst next summer. Would be first job out of undergrad. Not a brand name firm but they are in growth mode; have a lot of capital and have closed some 9 figure deals. Deal flow is good....

05 Aug 2022

I have an interview lined up for IB real estate brokerage team at a big local bank. It'll be my first ever IB interview and I dont know what to expect. However, I do know BIWS 400 are must knows, but thats all. To get ready for real estate industry specific technical questions, Im willing to spend...

03 Aug 2022

Hello, I am a current junior at Cornell University's Hotel School getting a real estate minor. My original plan was to go into investment banking but that fell apart, so now I am looking into careers within real estate. I know I sound like a clueless chump asking this question, but that is because I...

30 Aug 2021

Hi, I'm currently a biglaw attorney (2nd year) who works in the real estate space. I hate the law and am envious of my clients whose work seems significantly more interesting. The end goal (long-term) is to start my own shop, but I'm not sure whether I should stay in the legal profession or go into...

24 Jan 2022

I'm looking at interviewing for a few associate level roles in AM and was hoping to get an idea of how best to spend my time preparing. I've stayed at my spot since college and haven't really been through any formal CRE interviews - I honestly have no idea what to expect and am psyching myself out....

26 Mar 2022

Hi everyone, I'm still early in my career and I'm considering switching from real estate to tech and would like to know if anyone has done the same or has advice. As context, I'm 26, have my master's in real estate development and worked as an analyst in RE dev project management for 1.5 years after...

15 Feb 2022

Good day guys and girls, Currently in UG studying finance. Have always been shooting for IB but randomly got into a RE investment internship in hospitality. Was a pretty positive experience. Before that I've always wanted to get into RE as a side hustle when I have some savings. After the internship...

23 Jan 2022

The following is an interview with RE Acquisitions Analyst and new WSO Blogger PinkPoloShorts (he is also available to answer your questions) Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected] Q&A's and...

24 Nov 2020

What have you accomplished professionally in 2019? What wins have you celebrated? What mistakes have you had to overcome? What worries are on your horizon? What makes you excited for 2020? I've always found commercial real estate to be an industry very willing to extend an olive branch to both...

09 Dec 2019

Hi all - Looking to gain some insight into what working at a Real Estate specific HF or Real Estate Specific group at a HF would be like. I know this differs from REPE in terms of asset allocation, strategies, etc. But I don't know how so. Here are a few questions of mine to make things more...

29 Jun 2022

Hey Monkeys, Wondering if anyone who's been in an equity position at a lifeco can talk about culture/comp/where they exited to. I'm currently working at a sponsor as an internal capital markets guy, where I finance deals once committee has approved the deal. This is about 70% debt or...

23 Jan 2021

Interviewing for senior analyst working in commercial acquisitions. Anyone work there and have info?

12 Jul 2022

It seems this question gets asked a lot but people never get a straight answer. My numbers are from internally distributed pay data from one of the big four (CBRE, JLL, C&W, Colliers) international full service shops in Atlanta from the 2017 calendar year. Sorry, it's a bit out of date, but it is...

26 Jun 2022

Hey everyone, I am looking to get some info on the differences between development versus acquisitions associate roles. I attended a state school for UG, and I matriculate at a non-M7 MBA this fall, with an interest for real estate in Texas. I have 5 years of work experience, 3 of these years were...

08 May 2022

Hi all, Hope you are all well. I recently conducted interviews with a small outfit that does small-medium deals across resi/developments and some industrials and care homes. The role will be end-to-end origination and execution of debt that the team's sister company has effectively given them (giant...

03 Aug 2021

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13 Feb 2021

What're your best bits of advice for finding NYC rental for next summer? Are there better ways to find places than burning through Zillow? Do I find friends w/ RE connections..? lol Feels like most of this process comes down to luck with timing. Budget is reasonably flexible, but don't want to break...

23 Jul 2022

I am a third-year analyst at a family office seeking advice on lateraling. We invest in core/core-plus assets around the country and AUM is north of $3B. Due to their permanent capital, the family (see IC) makes a lot of investment decisions based on the qualitative features of an asset (see trophy...

22 Aug 2020

Question basically in the title. I run Acquisitions at a small family shop in southern California. 5 man team. Most deals, if not all are sourced by me, either through a relationship or hitting phones to property owners, then underwritten by me. For Acq guys at bigger shops A. Do you guys have...

17 Aug 2022

WSO - I come from an office/hotel background but have recently been spending time in the multifamily space and wanted to dig in on the assumptions/modeling practices behind MF vacancy factors. Few specific items I've been thinking about: Vacancy = [Leased Units]/[Total Units] and my perception is...

21 Jul 2021

In a particularly interesting thread the other day, featuring a great podcast recommendation, a discussion popped up between @Dumpster Fire Yuppie" , calculatedrisk , and I about CLT/GluLam/"Heavy Timber" construction (and also I discovered there are people out there who like brutalist architecture,...

14 Feb 2020

In recent memory, cap rates have typically been above the overall inflation rate. What I'm trying to wrap my mind around is how conceptually should I be viewing the relationship between cap rates / inflation, but specifically in an environment where cap rates are BELOW inflation. Meaning that on a...

29 Jun 2022

What type of investment banking would cover sports related companies-- does anyone have any insight into which firms get the most sports-related deal flow? My dream job is to work in sports in some way (PE, etc.) and I am interested in doing the banking stint first.

06 Jun 2022

Im getting a bachelors in RE development the coming june but I havent networked much and dont have any work experience in the RE sector so I would appreciate if u guys could clear up a few things for me. As I understand it a developer (as in, the employee and not the company itself) works mostly as...

16 Nov 2021

Recently I was given a acquisition case study as part of a project for an internship with the following information provided: - 100 Unit class C multifamily being converted into class B - Market rents ~1600-1800 (Columbia Heights DC) - Renovation costs: 25K per unit - 5 year hold period - 6.5% going...

22 Jun 2022

About me Been working at a top tier Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firm in New York for 7+ Years which makes me an old geezer. Ask anything you want about the industry, happy to answer and help guide you. Separately, I worked for three years at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago before jumping...

15 Jul 2019

Wondering how people are approaching CRE in the near term, say 6 to 12 months, in terms of transactions. Both from a sponsor and lender perspective. What product type are you looking to buy, begin construction on, or lend on in the near term? Seeing any challenges in finding debt at desired terms?...

16 Apr 2020

Got a summer analyst offer from SVB Leerink Tech IB NYC office and another offer from Ares Management Real Estate Debt Atlanta office at the same time. Which one should I choose? Thoughts on hours, bonus, culture, exit, city, long-term career trajectory? I suppose that MF like Ares definitely has...

03 May 2022

Hello, I'm a rising senior at a Top 3 public university majoring in philosophy with, effectively, a minor in econ (3.7 GPA). I've always been interested in luxury real estate/architecture/the idea of making money by building aesthetically beautiful things. I originally planned to go into the luxury...

17 Aug 2022

I am starting at a new shop in a week. Will be working on real estate acquisitions, real estate development and small venture capital opportunities. My new employer is offering me a low-interest line of credit to co-invest in deals, to be used at my discretion. The line tops out at $25k/year, which...

24 Aug 2020

Looking for advice on how to break into real estate (ideally in acquisitions/investments on the opportunistic side) as a consultant. I'm at a reputable firm (MBB) in the private equity group and have received strong performance reviews over the last two years at the firm. I've been approached by a...

29 Apr 2022

I currently work in finance at a large bank (WF, BofA, Citi) in LIHTC. The pay is good - all-in ~$270k with around 5 years of experience. An opportunity could be coming up to work on the LIHTC developer side. These developers make big fees, but know there is limited upside due to the nature of these...

09 Apr 2022

Looking for some advice from some family office peeps. I have a great gig now but this opportunity feels too good to pass up. A close mentor and friend asked me to leave my job and help him grow/manage his personal investments. He has told me he wishes his kids (who I am pretty close with) were...

30 Jun 2020

Hello WSO, I have been a long time lurker, and this is my first post (or maybe I am one of the top rated authors who decided to make a post anonymously). I have noticed a certain lack of information about infrastructure investing on WSO, and those threads that are created from time to time, are long...

02 Jan 2017

My current role is on the equity side. I am a portfolio manager in an associate-level role at a Life Insurance Co. I deal primarily in MF assets, and my day-to-day is heavy on capital transactions. After revamping my resume, I have been testing the waters for new opportunities. The most interesting...

07 Aug 2021