Best path toward becoming a successful CRE broker
What is the best way to work your way up to a broker? For investment sales.

I am currently a student, and I don't want to start out as a broker/agent right after college, since I don't like the idea of no salary starting out.

So should I become an IS analyst? Acquisitions at REIT/REPE? Analyst at development firm? Real estate IB? Is there a common path that successful brokers have?

Basically I'm wondering what entry-level career gives you a strong foundation to become a successful break later in your career.
[{"id": "flt3b80", "text": "Starting out sucks whether you are 20, 30 or 40. Might as well start right out of college and learn the business. Be someone\u2019s runner or junior broker for two years until you learn the business and figure out what niche you want to focus on. Analyzing deals and crunching numbers is the easy part. Learning how to negotiate, cold call and how to put deals together are things you will learn from a senior broker and will ultimately help you become more successful/make more money. Get a night/weekend job for 12 months to pay the bills until you start closing deals. It\u2019ll be worth it. Or some firms might offer some kind of draw or small salary until you start making money. Good luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flt9n9u", "text": "Good question I'm curious to see the answer to", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flt9sc8", "text": "its important to understand the huge difference between analyst and broker. The top elite analyst might be an awful broker if they tried. Sure, being a lifelong analyst can get you solid income, even $100k+, but in order to make that jump to the upper echelons you have to become a broker. My opinion is that the quicker you make the jump off salary and onto commissions, the quicker you will find out if you have what it takes to be a broker, and the quicker you will make the big bucks if you are good.\n\nAlso, a lot of college grads interested in brokerage make it their top goal to become an analyst on a top institutional team in a tier 1/2 city. This is great experience if you are trying to exit to private equity, but trust me, the brokers that run those teams do not usually hire analysts with the intention of grooming them into brokers. They are hiring people to grind numbers and put pitch books together for for them (as another poster said, this is the easy part). The college grad that goes to a boutique and starts out as a broker (and does well), is going to do a lot better than the guy that was a NYC CBRE IS analyst for 7 years, if that makes sense. My general answer is becoming a true broker, cold calling, sourcing deals etc. early on, is what sets you up for success. Or it will let you know quickly that you're not cut out for brokerage.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fltshpy", "text": "If you can\u2019t handle no salary in your early 20\u2019s when you have almost no responsibilities over overhead how would you handle it on your mid thirties with a spouse, two kids and $6,000+ a month in expenses.  \n\nCollege conditions us that when we graduate we are owed something, that all the work stops.  If you want to be something other than average it will take hard work and risk.  Take a chance now while your risk tolerance is higher than any other time in your life.  You just might  master a career before you turn 30.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fltxhdl", "text": "Judging from your question, would suggest starting off as an analyst (at a national firm, CW, Cbre, JLL) then aiming to join a team or be a runner for a senior broker. You will be the bitch for 2-5 years and be expected to be in the office all of the time, doing whatever the more senior broker says for a tiny split. Eventually If you work hard, do the right things and have a good attitude your splits will increase, you\u2019ll get some clients of your own and be in a good position.\n\nHowever...you better get used to no salary quick and be ready to take on a second job if need be. It will be easiest now when your expenses are low...You have to have a different mindset then salary fucks to be in Brokerage. You are not an employee. You are running your own business.", "replies": [{"id": "flty3g2", "text": "If I had a chance to do it over I would save as much money as possible before college, live at home on super low expenses, not go out or take vacations for the first 3 years, jump on at a national firm as soon as possible, invest in Massimo Groups new to business,  pick a speciality right away canvas and cold call everyone in my market and be one of the top brokers in the city by 30.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flu2iyp", "text": "Above all, find a good mentor. Join a brokerage team that believes in developing junior team members.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flu3sb6", "text": "As someone thats in their 30's and still in the \"growth\" stage of this career I can say the most valuable thing if I started from scratch again would be to either find a large firm I can be an analyst for or a firm that I can work under a few brokers for a minimal cut.  Either direction the point is it is worth its weight in gold to have a true mentor teaching you the ropes for a few years.  As others have said there's two sides you need to learn, the investment side, and then the actual game of being a broker and connecting opportunities.  This is something you can get a great foundation in a couple of years working under someone, or potentially never grasp trying to learn it on your own.  Take the pay hit, find a way to live as cheap as possible while you learn and work under someone but just know the payoff with a good foundation will be big.  Without that foundation, you may simply struggle forever so a couple year pay cut is no big deal.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fluz22c", "text": "The only path to becoming a successful broker is experiance. The longer you spend as an analyst or other positions the longer it will take you get your feet wet as a broker. Start out as a jr broker for a team that will pay a small salary in exchange for doing a lot of the tedious work , cold calling mostly... this will be the best experience for you and you won\u2019t waste any time.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flw74m3", "text": "I sold 17 million first 2 years. Basically what I did was network heavily (meetups, etc.) for buyers. This is going to be much easier then sellers while you are newer. I ended up selling some of these buyers properties later on. It all snowballs you just need to get the first few clients and work your ass off for them. A lot of older agents don't put as much effort in and I think my work ethic really made me stand out. \n\nI worked as an analyst in a paid internship type role and it was definitely useful. If you want to do brokerage I wouldn't hesitate to just go straight into brokerage though.", "replies": [{"id": "flw7u0c", "text": "How much was your cut on that 17 million?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]