Real Estate Finance

A bit left field here given that this is mainly a finance forum, but has anyone interested in CRE, and more specifically development, given serious thought to starting their career in a construction role as opposed to something more traditional like AM or IS? Seems to me that if you're entrepreneurial and hope to own run your own shop one day, having the construction experience would not only save you a few points on the cost side of things, but give you a better understanding of the development process itself. To clarify, I mean by either managing the projects yourself, or having the

22 Jan 2020

If you're on the WSO real estate forum, surely you've heard about Peter Linneman and his text Real Estate Finance & Investments... but I'd be interested to find out who else is out there. Who are some of the other best minds in commercial real estate? Which titians of our industry do you look up to or admire?

29 May 2018

Hey guys, I finished a first round interview call last week for a 3-year analyst position with PGIM RE Finance and have been asked to do a second round video interview with two Directors next week and complete an assessment. The assessment has no information as to what it is about and the email says you shouldn't prepare or anything. I was wondering if anyone has some insight as to what I should expect from either or what I should be prepared for? The only reason I make a new post is because I've read many different things in the forum and on the internet and would like to hopefully get some

24 Apr 2019

A couple of questions about a company like eastdill 1: can you give me some examples of similar companies in NYC (that have a similarly strong reputation)? All I seem to come across are the capital markets divisions of the places like cushman/cbre/jll 2. Seems like these places are essentially just enhanced mortgage brokers, am I right? Ignoring the property brokerage how are they different than a typical commercial mortgage broker? Only by the fact that they place equity as well?

23 Sep 2012

I'm a senior graduating in May at a semi target Big 10 school. Somehow scored a phone interview with HR for the above new group (apparently elite from what the Analysts are saying). Not saying this to brag, rather because the job post was asking for 1-3 years of experience and Argus proficiency, neither of which I have. This is an absolute dream job for me so I'm pretty nervous and need to crush every part of it. I know it's just HR so it'll probably be 100% behavioral, but any advice on how to prepare for this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks legends.

23 Feb 2019

I am looking to get into real estate development but have a minimal knowledge in real estate finance. I am aware that in order to enter the field a satisfactory knowledge of real estate finance is necessary. What is the best course I can take online that will provide me the necessary real estate finance information to be successful in the real estate development field? And what finance concepts in particular are necessary for real estate development if I was to just do research on my own?

06 Nov 2017

Anyone have any info on Goldman's Asset Management Group in Dallas, TX? I believe that they used to be called Archon, but have officially merged completely under Goldman. Is it just AM or Acquisitions also?

24 Feb 2013

What is your opinion of working at a commercial mortgage division of a bank versus a mortgage brokerage firm? I am interested your perceived Pros and Cons. I currently work as a loan analyst at a commercial bank and and wanted to know how my position compares to the brokerage side.

12 Nov 2013

If you aren't 1) on the Ivy/Target --> IBanking bandwagon 2) have any personal connections in the industry I started my career about a year ago after taking a break after undergrad. I'm up to about 80K+ bonus right now working in real estate software technology. I'm getting better on the software side which is opening up more opportunities with that, and am wondering if I should close out my efforts in finding a job in real estate finance? All the job offers I've received on that side are in the 45-65K range. I like the idea of moving in either direction, but I just want to fully understand

25 Jan 2013

I'm planning to go back for an MBA with a concentration in real estate. I have no real estate experience, but it's what I've always wanted to do and I'm ultimately interested in starting my own development company. I would like when I graduate to get a few years experience working with a developer to learn how they do deals. Before working for a developer, however, I'd like to get an internship or have a short stint at the type of company that provides capital for the deals. Reason being, I want to see how the capital side sees these deals which will help when I want to start doing my own projects. Not sure what types of companies I should be targeting though. Here's the question:

18 Jul 2012

Hello All, I have a 2 fold question. But let me tell about myself first. I am working for the Real Estate division of a well-known bank (one of the largest in this country). It is a senior analyst position for the Residential Real Estate division. But I want to go to the Commercial side as a Commercial/Wholesale banker. So my queries are: 1) Do I need my MBA? I know MBA is very much needed if I wanted to go to IB or corporate finance or PE, but for entering the Real Estate world do I really need an MBA as well? Just asking because I am not that young (in my 30s) anymore and it is a huge time

25 May 2016

Anyone have any experience financing self storage deals? Some of these questions are hard to answer obviously without more info but I literally just have no idea and am flying blind so anything helps. - Let's say you have a good class A (if that even exists/whatever metrics they use) stabilized property in a top tier/sexy six market what would be an estimate of the cap rate range that they would trade on, like 7-9% ish? - What capital sources lend on self storage (bank, debt fund, CMBS, private lenders/hard money?). - What metrics do you look at (occupancy, lease term, lease roll, OpEx ratios

01 May 2015

All- I have received an interview test from a small RE acquisition firm. The company primarily deals with SFR (single family rentals) and small apartment buildings. For the test, they asked me to evaluate 3 SFRs which includes determining the rental value, price we should pay, and a gross and net cap rate. I am wondering if anyone is familiar with gross and net cap rate. I have only heard of cap rate (which I assume would be gross cap rate?). Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you!

12 Jun 2014

Anyone have a good source on a commercial real estate lender directory? specifically looking for some of the lesser known players. i have the crittenden real estate lender directory, but was looking for more/others

28 Jan 2013

Frequent reader, first post. Non-target undergrad (pol sci major). Have had success in the Boston area in vc tech space due to connections, work focused in strategic partnerships. Lot of global work and was a principal level at 24. However, despise the industry and not a cultural fit either. Followed the herd out of school and had a lot of contacts. 3 years out and looking at an MBA focused in RE Finance or a MSRE with career landing in NYC. At the point where I want to pursue a passion/niche. Have known I wanted change, then took the CareerBuilder test they give at MBA and got a 99 in RE Dev

21 Nov 2017

Hey everyone, I was curious to hear some opinions in regards to working with specific RE product types. Would it be bad to work for a firm that specializes in only one product type? If so, could you please go into detail which product types are the worst/best, and is it somewhat exaggerated/overrated?

01 Jul 2012

Whats the difference? Im just having a slightly difficult time differentiating especially since sometimes job descriptions between both sound very similar. Thanks monkeys!

28 Feb 2015

I've been working at a CMBS special servicing firm (Top 3) as an analyst in the portfolio management arm for about 10 months now. Before I graduated from undergrad in May, I interned here and was offered a full time position starting in June. Since then I have found my job to be more or less easy and quite boring honestly. I was comfortable with the fact that I had a secure job after graduating with a decent starting pay and a job somewhat centered in Finance. After careful thought, I've come to the realization that this might not be what I want in the long term. The skills that I'm learning are okay, I guess, but I know that most of it is not transferable. I have been brushing up on my excel skills (VBA, Macros, some modeling) on my own time the last couple months.

02 Oct 2012

Hey guys, I'm preparing for Capital Market Analyst interview at a small real estate finance group in the NYC. When it comes to capital market research, all I can imagine is to build a database and monitor the CMBS/RMBS/SFR/REIT market and then come up with a report w/ recommendations to institutions. But the job spec emphasizes financial modeling ability which confused me. I only used DCF models to project property-level returns and it doesn't seem to relate to capital market at all. I researched the typical Capital Market Analyst interviews at IBs and it seems it's not modeling oriented

14 Oct 2017

What are the best RE podcasts for commercial real estate, especially for someone interested in RE finance?

27 Jul 2015

Hey Guys, I have been reading a lot of threads on WSO, but i rarely see any information concerning the college i currently attend. As of now i am enrolled in Brooklyn College with a 3.8 GPA majoring in Business Managment and Finance. Please give me some advice, so that i can break into IB or RE Finance. Thanks so much!

12 Mar 2013

I have recently become involved in a real estate development deal for my company. Can someone please help clarify my question below about the rate? The bank has approved the loan and the rates are as follows: REPAYMENT: - Construction & Stabilization Period: Monthly payments of interest only up to 2 years - Permanent Financing: 60 months, monthly payments of Principal & Interest based on amortization not to exceed 25 years with a balloon payment at maturity. RATE: -Construction & Stabilization Period: One month LIBOR Rate Reset Monthly rounded to the nearest 1/16 percent plus 265 basis points. As of today's rate, the rate would be 2.84%, such rate to be adjusted by Bank prior to initial funding as market conditions change.

26 Mar 2014

I've just completed my first internship ever at a prestigious RE Developer, multifamily side- privately owned. They have developed many Class A properties (podium style and wrap style apartments mainly) in the Houston area as well as nation wide. Though I know RE is not a primary focus on this site, I felt I would share since it is under the finance realm, and they call primarily on BB's, PF's, and IB's and other institutional investors for their equity partners. I learned quite a bit, but maybe the most important thing I learned is how much more I have to learn.

19 Aug 2012

Hey all, I've always found this board helpful so I figured I'd come back to WSO and see if I couldn't learn something or the other. I'm at a bit of a cross-roads and need some perspective, and maybe some ideas. I'm 25 going on 26, and starting to approach the point where I can no longer just dick around and hope for the best. I need some kind of plan...which escapes me at the moment. Background : I spent 6+ months temping in the back office of a BB out of college. Hated it for obvious reasons and then ended up in real estate. No real reason other than I met the CFO of a family owned developer

09 Jan 2017

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

So I'm essentially moving from East Coast to London and switching up jobs in the process so I've been interviewing quite actively for acquisitions roles in London for the last month. I've had a few case studies and nothing is particularly out the order (compared to the U.S. process), but I keep getting asked to calculate after-tax return from nearly all companies, which new to me.. (and strange, isn't this why you have fund accountants?) In previous role, when we were UW, we generally looked at deal level returns (like IRR/EMx/CoC etc.), and never went beyond the waterfall structure so I would

18 Feb 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

Hi everyone, Next week I will be starting my career out of university. This will be at one of the larger European banks within their Real Estate Finance team. Now I do have experience in RE through an internship at a REIB, however not specifically on the principal/lending side of a larger bank. Therefore I have gotten a pretty strong grasp of how the RE landscape in my country works. Next to that I have focused on the modelling and theoretical side of RE through self-study. However, I was wondering whether anyone would have any tips on particular things that I should focus on during my first

27 Aug 2020

Howdy folks, I know questions on ARGUS have been asked before but couldn't find a response to the one I had (feel free to point me to where this may have been answered, if so). I am looking to get more proficient in changing Argus assumptions for models that we receive from brokers and sponsors. Long-story short, I work on the debt side (first mortgages) and we generally haven't used ARGUS for more than extracting projections and rent rolls and have used our own models for the analysis. However, now we are moving towards modifying cash flows within Argus by changing assumptions (leasing

24 Jul 2016

Hi, I have an interview for BNP Paribas IBE Real Estate Finance division. Does anyone have any tips or advice on what the culture is at BNP or what they would be looking for as a new Analyst? Cheers

26 May 2015

I am trying to land a position in Commercial Real Estate -- Hotels to be precise, but i'm not gonna be picky for the short-term. I have been trying to re acquaint myself with Excel again: so far i'm working on PivotTable, IF and Vlookups. I understand the likes of BIWS, WSP, etc but I have a few questions: 1. Can I get BIWS 2nd hand from someone? 2. Alternatively, can I just gather what I need to know from Youtube's ExcelisFun Channel? If so, what videos should I concentrate on? 3. Can you recommend the top Excel functions I should know in regards to this subject? 4. Where can I teach myself to build DCFs and valuate CRE? What other investment formulas should I know?

17 Feb 2015

Hi Monkeys, I am new to WSO - love the concept and am looking forward to expanding my knowledge. I would love to get any insight into what people think about my goals and planned career paths -- i'm just as happy to hear criticisms -- thanks! I also want to meet and make new connections - if anyone is interested in meeting for drinks/coffee, that would be great. Little bit about me: Grew up internationally Went to non-target college, finance degree w. some RE classes Launched my first successful tech startup at 19 and sold it -- love for entrepreneurship Worked in hotel management for 1.5 years Currently: Trying to transition into Hotel Real Estate (or Commercial RE, to eventually transfer into Hotel RE) in an analyst/valuation analyst capacity

17 Feb 2015