I recently bought a real estate property. The whole experience (books, financal analysis, property analysis, etc.) convinced me that RE is where I want to be.
I have 4 years experience in the back office (I know, not good.)
How can I transfer into RE? Specifically an analytical role. I do not want to be a broker.
There’s this designation called CCIM. The education is solid but it is also great for networking. I’m guessing it would set me back at least $6k. Unfortunately, there aren’t any classes offered nearby so I would need to travel. There are online classes available, but I want to get the benefit of networking.
Also BU offers a Real Estate Studies certificate. $5k or so, not sure how reputable that would be. It would offer the benefit of networking within my city.
No to all of those. CCIM is garbage and expensive. Certificates are a joke.
Join your local Urban Land Institute. Go to all of the events, including the 7am breakfasts. In most cities that’s the best place to network with RE professionals that work in investment roles. They even have a program that pairs younger guys with a mentor. Get business cards, set up lunches. RE people are social and love to talk about deals.
Take a self study class from GetREFM.com to learn modeling. Real estate modeling is not especially difficult, but understanding the capital stack, sources and uses, and waterfalls are important skills that you should be prepared to demonstrate in interviews.
If you’re interested in retail, office, or industrial, take an ARGUS class. These are expensive and you might have to travel to find one. You will have to decide if the cost is worth it, but most commercial shops would want experienced hires to be proficient.
The masters degrees in real estate finance/development are gaining popularity and if you go to a good program you have a good chance of landing a solid job.
The problem is 99% of the jobs in real estate are brokerage jobs. I’d love to work on the analytical side of real estate, but it’s hard even finding jobs to apply for. It’s such a small and specific area. I would imagine only several large companies have serious, financial real estate analysts.
Also another problem is that there arent many career growth prospects.You’re an analyst, and then there’s not really many places to go up imo
Working for a good brokerage or a debt shop is not a bad start.
I think it depends on what type of investment company you work for, but the career path is not very different from other areas of finance. You start as an analyst, work your way up through the ranks, become a partner or launch your own entity leveraging your connections to capital. selectleaders.com is a good resource for job postings.
If you want to shape your experience profile for an analytical position at the entry level anything related to valuations, credit assessment, economic research, construction cost management would probably be good.
Not sure about the UK but overhear we’ve got specialized firms focusing on most of the analytical pieces such as valuation of RE, RE market forecasts, RE marketing, pension account RE advice, etc.