Real Estate

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 am one right now. I want to go into a real estate career that offers similar IB pay/career growth opportunities (considering hours worked), but I am not sure where to even start looking. It seems like development, acquisitions, and anything real estate can not compare to IB from what I have found

30 Aug 2021

I'm curious how all your firms do it. Do you adjust your 'sale NOI' to have the next buyers real estate taxes included, therefore lowering the NOI and sale price? Or do you sell on your proforma NOI, not adjusting for next buyer taxes? I've done it both ways at the firms I've worked for. Curious how everyone else does it.

22 Sep 2021

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 roles I have applied to thus far have been on the debt-side – RE underwriting/origination. The interest has been reciprocated, and I am in the process of interviewing with a few firms. Anecdotally, it seems like my more senior colleagues have been on both sides during their careers. Is that common

07 Aug 2021

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 RE fund). Is there anyone here who is in a similar role at the moment, if so how are they finding it? Not been in IS that long but my team's deal flow is not great so I find myself slightly bored – hence the move. I believe this role will cover senior, junior, mezz etc. and I was told I'd have the

03 Aug 2021

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 that when folks slap on this "vacancy" factor they're really (i) underwriting 100% lease-up and then (ii) reducing revenue by the proportionate share of some assumed number of units that aren't ever going to get leased (i.e., equilibrium). In my mind, however, there are other factors also impacting

21 Jul 2021

Senior monkeys and real estate gods, I am a senior in at a semi/target school, with a decent GPA, who always found investing interesting. I dug deeper into this and decided that I want to pursue real estate investing to start my career. While there are pros and cons to being at a large fund vs. a local investor or developer, I have realized that I would like to have an aerial view of real estate instead of focusing on a specific market right away. Thus for internships, I managed to work at multipe well known global institutions (think life co, pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds

18 May 2021

Two questions : 1 - in your opinion who makes the most money in the real estate industry? Blackstone acquisitions, small operator, development principal, investment banker, mortgage broker, GP or LP? 2 - Who has the best work to reward ratio, aka great lifestyle and also really great money? I imagine this is where family offices and small owner operators shine.

18 Aug 2021

If a company already bought the land and is going to develop it, but they want to take out debt to do so, would the lender include that in their LTC when determing proceeds? Question 2: If construction has already begun and now the developer wants to take out debt to finance the rest of the project, will the LTC only include future costs or the total project cost? For Example: Project cost is 100M, we have complete 20M of it and now we want debt. If a lender loans at 70% LTC, could we get 70M or would they only be willing to offer 56M (70% of remaining costs ~80M)

13 Jul 2021

Moved from Banking over to Real Estate (CBRE/JLL) within one the more niche Capital Markets teams to support transactions and be involved in financial modelling etc. I have been here for nearly a year and have worked on only one deal. My broker has realised the headcount was pre-emptively brought in and is now looking at where I can be placed. I feel sick and depressed - going back to banking is not possible for many reasons (I'd love to but you cannot go through the front door). Any ideas what I should do next?

21 Sep 2021

I worked in banking for 3/4 years in various roles from debt to portfolio management and most recently debt advisory. Due to coivd job-losses, I recently took a analyst role in a top broker focussed on self-storage. I create financial models/vals etc. I do not think this is for me long-term as its not technical/challenging enough. I think if I do not go back into banking, I want to do REPE Acquisitions or go work in a Fund Please note the above that I did not choose to end up here it was more this or be out of a job. 1) should I stay here for a year to build up some 'real estate modelling' and

25 Jun 2021

Has anyone done a superday at Partners Group for the financial analyst program? This is a 2-3 year program where you rotate between their different groups for undergrads. What was the format (behaviourals, technicals, case studies)? How many people did you interview with? How did you best prepare? How did you best prepare for your superdays for ib and pe?

10 Aug 2021

Hi Everyone, First post here and sorry in advance. In short, I graduated and went into banking (around 4 years) in debt financ/some real estate finance and then bonds portfolio management. Left to a small boutique to do debt advisory but due to covid was let go. Interviewed with a Big Broker (CW/CBRE/JLL) and have joined what looks like a cap markets team as the sole lead analyst to basically build models/financials. We do fewer deals but make big fees in an operational re asset. I am so unsure on this role as I am not a broker and do not want to do that - I thought I was hired to do modelling

17 Jun 2021

Been working in Development as Sr Analyst/Associate at a top shop (Hines/Brookfield/Related/Avalon Bay/Ventas) straight out of college for the last 3-4 yrs & looking to make a jump into Acquisitions. I've been going through the past posts on this topic but most of them have been dated so looking for a fresh outlook based on my criteria. Reasons why I want to make a jump, Pros & Cons Pros of Leaving I have always enjoyed the financial aspect such as proforma creation/underwriting more than working with architects/construction managers/designers/contractors. Fell like I'm pigeonholed in the

20 May 2021

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!!! (oversaturated) The Real Estate: Is dead!!! (See above) The Hedge Funds: Is dead!!! (can't beat a gosh danged benchmark) The Big Tech: Is dead!!! (ruined our lives) The Lawyers: Is dead!!! (wtf??? do u even have to ask?) The Doctors: Is dead!!! (literally - bless up!) The Non-Targets: Is dead!!! (weren't

04 Dec 2020

Hi Guys, I was hoping someone could help me with writing my formula for rental growths. I have a Y1 price per sqft. with Y1, Y2, Y3 growth rates alongside varying occupancy rates. I am trying to project out monthly cashflows but have now confused myself on how to proceed... I was doing =SUM(Rent Psf * Occupancy/12)* (1+r)^(Y-1) But there are a few different ways to do this - which is correct.... - (1+r)^(M-1) -(1+r)^(1/12) I want to know what is best to use for monthly growing - or at the start of each year growth - which I think is incorporated here somewhere. *Note I have a vlookup for the

27 Jul 2021

Recently received an offer with a 6 month non-compete and 24 month equity solicitation restriction. What is considered "market" for the industry and how would one go about negotiating?

26 Aug 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 work, project mgmt, design/creative, marketing, etc. Now that I kind of have my feet under me and understand how all these different facets work together; my boss is asking me how I'd like to approach the next step in my professional career (aka, what area/areas I'd like to focus on and begin to take

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 pension funds (CalPERS/CalSTRS, etc.). I spent 3 years there before hopping to a west coast focused multifamily PE firm focused on development/value-add where I moved from an associate to VP, to Director. The firm gets its money mainly from pension funds but has several strong JV relationships with

05 Mar 2021

Planning to get into b-school fall of 2022. I am currently in the construction management industry and plan to pivot into real estate with MBA. My undergrad was in India in civil engineering with a low gpa of 2.64/4.00 and I have a masters in construction management from USA with a decent gpa of 3.57/4.00. My GRE is 326/340. I am a prospective HBS CORe candidate. Do you think that getting the Cornell commercial RE certificate will look good on my resume and increase my odds of breaking in into top b-schools. Workwise, I am into commercial construction cost estimation wherein I work for a

13 May 2021

This is for anyone in CRE who works on deals or real estate sales brokers or mortgage brokers. When marketing a deal, we reach out to 50-200 institutions / clients / investors to see if they are interested in it. Our way of tracking this is someone below the VP is cc'd to the outreach email and is suppose to catch and log all responses and the VP is supposed constantly manage that connection and check his or her email with all 100+ conversations manually. We just type notes into excel as to where they are in the process and its an incredibly inefficient and error prone process. Sometimes the

02 Sep 2021

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 portion of equity) gets more hands on experience on the deal. Not only sourcing the deal upon acquisition but also executing the business plan to earn a promotion. Business plan work includes leasing, capital plans, development, redevelopment, etc. Lots of local expertise in a given region and asset

29 Oct 2020

Title. Are they valued like any other real estate asset with NOI and a Cap Rate or is there another metirc commonly used?

15 Jul 2021

Hello friends! Im lucky enough to received associate offers from each of these firms and wanted to get any thoughts from the peanut gallery. Does anyone have any general thoughts on which firm provides the best opportunities, culture, dealflow, etc? They all seem fairly similar in size (Greystar probably the largest?) and in dealmaking/capital raising capabilities. Any of them have better name recognition? I wanted it see if anyone had any direct experience with any of these firms. Long term want to focus on REPE with some development (as LP). Thanks so so so much my friends!

06 Mar 2021

Hi, so I've recently applied to a RE investment firm and they gave me this case study. I've been trying to read through some case studies online, but I can't find anything that is similar to the one they gave me. Basically, there is a target Office Building to be acquired with 1 year of renovations before being leased out to a tenant, and then an exit by Year 4. The property will be funded by equity, mezzanine, and senior debt. Now, usually, case studies provide the purchase price for the target property as well as an exit cap rate at the end to determine the returns of the investment. However

09 May 2021

I'm currently working in IS at a top 3 brokerage (think CBRE, JLL, Eastdil) and am thinking about my future after doing my analyst years. My long-term vision is to have my own real estate firm (think 8-12 years from now). I'm not sure if that will be a development or private equity firm. I started two businesses while in college. One was successful and one wasn't. The successful one was a franchise. As such I'm thinking I'd rather buy an existing business with some systems already in place and add my own twist rather than start something from scratch. Initially I was thinking I'd transition

11 Sep 2021

What are people getting paid these days as Associates. It seems like it has moved upwards quite a bit industry wide and looking for anecdotal evidence of that. I can start: Role: Megafund AM Fund Size: $20B+ Market: Southeast Experience: Associate 1 Base: $160k Bonus: 60-70% Hours: Varies, but 60-70

06 Oct 2021

How does a Single Family Rental development deal pencil? I work in MF development in the southeast and hear about these deals for a few years now but have not seen one yet. The demand story checks, but I can't figure out the execution. As I see it, unless you have a waiting list of tenants, you can get crushed in lease-up waiting on these 3BR renters. Plus the value of the house today is worth more to a homeowner than an investor, so you are better off just building and selling than building to rent then sell. Anyone in this space having success yet? Whats the exit CAP? Long term financing

14 Apr 2021

I've heard the book The Real Estate Game: The Intelligent Guide To Decisionmaking And Investment by William J. Poorvu recommended a lot on this sub. Would people here generally agree that it's a great way for a beginner to see the breadth of the real estate business? Also, does anybody know where I can buy/download a digital/pdf/epub copy of this book? I can only find a physical copy and I need a digital copy.

12 Jun 2021

Hello all, I've been introduced to an owner of multifamily properties in Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. Over the course of 35 years in business, the owner has bootstrapped herself having developed a portfolio of 1200 doors in 9 multifamily properties, all of which she not just owns but also manages. She estimates that her portfolio is worth around $200 million, and net of leverage and co-investor interests, her stake is around $60 million. I have reviewed her investment record under NDA, and reviewed new deals with her. What I've observed is that she has demonstrated the ability to acquire

08 Mar 2021

I'm looking into Goldman's real estate groups and was wondering if anyone can explain what their different groups do. What is the difference between GSAM and GS merchant banking? What are the types of work/investing, comp, and potential exits in both? What does the real estate financing group do? Do they originate loans like other bank lenders at the asset level, do debt placements like brokers, raise corporate debt like typical bankers? Any info would be much appreciated!

27 Sep 2021

I'm wondering what everyone thinks is the best way to get "better" and more knowledgeable about real estate, especially given it's not a super academic field that you can necessarily learn from a textbook. Specifically, trying to move from a lesser-known LP to a larger "MF" LP or acq role at a large developer. I read ~an hour of RE news every day but tbh stories can get repetitive (any recs for more technical RE news / info sources is welcomed). Could just work longer hours but don't know if tweaking more models and formatting more graphs is the best marginal use of time. Curious to hear your

14 Dec 2020

Hey everyone, I'm a long time member of this forum and have used it on a number of occasions to learn concepts, get advice and just to see other people's perspective on things. I've found it really helpful over the past few years so I thought to ask for your perspective on a topic that has been gnawing at me. I've changed some of the details to make sure it stays anonymous... Backstory My family company is a medium-sized real estate developer and investor in Europe with around $1.5B GAV. I'm 5th generation and the company is basically fully owned by one core family, so me picking real estate

21 Feb 2021

Hi WSO! I have finally come to the conclusion that I will be buying my first apartment building as an investment. I feel like this is the best way to learn how to become a successful principal and although I am still in school, I want to start now. I am a senior in college with enough capital to be a GP on my first acquisition. I will need to raise money from limited partners in order to meet the down payment requirement. Still waiting for clarity in the market over the next 6 months but actively looking and receiving influx of deals. Looking for advice of DOs and DONTS when buying my first

24 Sep 2020

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

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13 Feb 2021

Hi all, I am a San Diego based CRE professional looking to transition into REPE with an active firm in Southern California (preferably MF, Retail or Mixed-Use). With SD being a relatively small market in terms of REPE, I am hoping to get insight into active SoCal REPE offices. Background: MSRE, with institutional experience in asset/portfolio management (performing and distress), development and construction across most CRE asset classes. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

09 Feb 2021

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 asset) rather than the returns analyses. Recently, things have gotten quite political at the office, which has resulted in high turnover and a huge drop in productivity. I don't see this going away soon and think it may be time to leave. I landed an offer from a smaller, opportunistic shop that

22 Aug 2020

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 "How I Work" posts are also an option. Let me know! 1) I am a financial analyst in acquisitions at a small real estate private equity firm specializing in residential land development and management. 2) This is my first finance job and I started in January of this year. Prior to working at my current

24 Nov 2020

Hello everyone, I am preparing for a career transition into CRE. I have worked in economic consulting for the past few years where I have gained quality professional experience and transferrable skillsets (data/financial analysis, modeling, research, etc.). However, I have zero tangible real estate experience. I am aiming for an acquisitions analyst program spot at a real estate investment management or private equity firm where I will likely be competing with recent undergrads from top universities and former IB analysts with deal/transaction experience. I am confident I can use my experience

08 Aug 2021

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 structured/preferred equity and 30% JV equity. I just graduated my MSRE program a few weeks ago and am really looking to target moving back to the equity side full time and have mostly been chasing private equity acquisitions opportunities. That said, I just got a call back for a second interview for an associate

23 Jan 2021

I am currently an underwriter for a regional bank who is a driver of CRE in the region. I make around 65k. I could be a lender in 1 year and make 80-100k. I am being poached by CBRE - a multifamily IS group - to be an analyst. They keep telling me the first couple of years will be rough but will guarantee that I make 70k the first two years. I am not sure which path to go. I want to make more money - I know that my bank is safer but the potential at CBRE is untouched. I have been wanting to get into acquisitions on the buy side but have been having a very tough time. Any advice on where the

25 Sep 2020

So I'm planning on joining a CRE brokerage firm this summer for an internship. I'm going to be working with the capital markets guys. So far all I know is that they connect the clients with financing. I listened in on one of them doing calls and basically he was cold calling people asking if they wanted to refinance their property, he was also working with a client doing a 1031 exchange. Any more info on what the capital markets do in a brokerage firm? He was talking about treasury yield and how that effects pricing? Could someone give me a crash course on this stuff lol. Or provide a link to

22 Mar 2021

I graduated 3 years ago with a BS degree in Finance, good GPA at a pretty good school and started working in a Commercial Banking Leadership Program. I then worked as a commercial credit Analyst for about 18 months before getting promoted to a portfolio manager working directly under a CRE lender. The thing is, I am extremely bored. I like Commercial Real Estate, I love underwriting the deals, but commercial lending is boring and I have ZERO desire to become a CRE lender or any role involving sales/production. I'm analytical and detail-oriented, more of a "do my own thing" type of person and

21 Oct 2020

What the best method for modeling a FOF hypothetical? A) utilize the the 1, 3, and 5 yr average net return of the underlying operators or B) utilize assumptions of cash flow based on prefs and estimated appreciation of the underlying assets? i've modeled both methods and with A (using net return) and B (using IRR) the returns are within 15% of each other however the MOIC is very different. i also modeled in a refinance/recap of some sort in year 3 under method B. I know what i'm doing in application but am not an excel guru and am struggling to ensure i model the hypotheticals accurately to

09 Apr 2021

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 reemergence of unsecured and interest-only debt at record high leverage points this cycle, irrational exuberance seems to be inundating the space. Multiple sponsors have approached us seeking opco level investment to recapitalize their firm because they have become so overextended chasing promote despite

14 Oct 2019

At the best megafunds (KKR/Apollo/Blackstone) - what are the hours like in Real Estate PE? How do they compare to standard PE? How are weekends?

16 Sep 2021

So I've been scouring the internet by doing simple Google searches where I've coming across some helpful YouTube interviews/audio-programs to eventually finding some insightful posts on Reddit to then coming across a post on Reddit that recommended WSO as the go-to place to find information on IB, PE, CRE, etc etc. To give some context, I'm 24 years old, I have a son (2 years old), I've been in the residential real estate industry for 2.5 years now, have an Applied Science degree in Finance from a community college, some experience in underwriting (residential BRRRR, flips, and buy&hold deals)

09 Jan 2021

Hello - have a bit of an interesting situation and was wondering if anyone here had experience with or knew somebody who had been through a similar dilemma. Long-story short, I am a CRE Asset Management professional (focus on hospitality assets - yes I had a great last year :P) who, along with a few other folks I knew from college (all happen to live in this town in the pacific northwest), have a side business of investing in properties mainly SFRs and now smaller hospitality assets, thinks motels, etc. I am basically at a crossroads now where I need to make a decision based on what to do next

25 Aug 2021

For anyone who has insight into this, would love to hear your general thoughts on Invesco Real Estate - reputation, deal flow, culture, comp, etc.

02 Mar 2021

Hi everyone, I've been thinking of pursing a MBA for quite some time and would greatly appreciate additional perspectives on my candidacy. I'm aiming for HSW (shoot for the stars) but wonder if those schools are even worth applying to. As a side note, I come from a working-class background and would have to finance the degree myself. I worked through college, managed to pay off my student loans, and saved ~$100k. I'd hate to spend it all and/or take on +$100k of debt, so financial assistance will play a big role in my decision. What are everyone's thoughts on non-M7 (NYU, Yale, Cornell) and

16 Sep 2021