Capital Markets/Investment Sales vs. Leasing
Hi all, graduating in May and having a tough time deciding between debt capital markets/investment sales or tenant rep leasing. I am analytically minded and have internship experience in investment banking/equity research. 

What are you experiences in the industry? I am definitely motivated by money to say the least and would like to get into investing on a personal or LP basis down the road. 

I am currently speaking with a couple of commission only firms for IS/leasing and then bigger firms as well where I would enter a leasing team as a runner.

Any thoughts?
[{"id": "flrzal4", "text": "As you listed several different career paths just curious as to why you want to work in Real Estate? If its to network and make deals than you would go the leasing or investment sales route. Just keep in mind these are still sales positions and any major firm would require hundreds of cold calls a week...which is not for everyone. If you want to work with numbers look for an analyst position at a PE firm/ Lender etc.", "replies": [{"id": "fls58n8", "text": "I am sorry but this is just not accurate. Established firms with instituntional clients aren't making hundreds of cold calls a week...\n\nAs far as my advice to OP. If you are interested in honing in on your financial skills, you can go to an established capital markets or investment sales team as an analyst and absorb like a sponge. Make sure you go somewhere with high deal volume. As u\\bt1014 pointed out, you could also look for analyst positions at a PE firm/lender.\n\nLeasing is great if you are extremely personable, creative, and are more interested in the user of real estate rather than the owner of real estate.", "replies": [{"id": "flsiryp", "text": "You know entry-level investment sales professionals who don't make hundreds of cold calls a week?", "replies": [{"id": "flskyx6", "text": "Yes", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fltada2", "text": "I know tons.  Tons of quality investment sales teams at CBRE, JLL, Eastdil, Cushman, etc.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fltahds", "text": "Big firms have lead centers that do all the cold calling and filter it through to the appropriate teams", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fls3lsd", "text": "If you\u2019re going into brokerage it\u2019s all about connections. So to have the best connections, why not learn from the brokers with the best connections? I would look up costar power brokers in your area. That would show you who\u2019s been killing it, and who to meet and possibly emulate. Costar also divides the power brokers into Investment Sales and Leasing, as well as categorically by product type.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fls7jlh", "text": "In my opinion investment sales has a higher ceiling but also a much higher failure rate.  What is your ultimate goal?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flsg9bk", "text": "Lenders will be busy for a while. I'm sure they'll be needing people.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flsgcun", "text": "Since nobody spoken on the debt side I can as someone on the mortgage banking (MB) side that, that side will give you a much stronger and complex knowledge of the deal process. It might be not as an exciting road in the beginning but at the end of the day if you have a strong knowledge about the financial lending process you can be successful in any avenue of the real estate industry.", "replies": [{"id": "fme1aqd", "text": "&gt;jestein007\n\nAgree 100%", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flskjsk", "text": "I\u2019m biased but would suggest leasing. I work on a team that is half leasing &amp; half capital markets so I get an exposure to both. However, being new in the business I think leasing is great to get a fundamental understanding of the business &amp; later transition to more of the capital markets side of the business if that\u2019s something that still interests you. Mentorship is everything though.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flsoo7i", "text": "Best way to answer this is to ask yourself where you want to be in in 10 years. \n\nInvestment Sales - you\u2019re going to learn how to value existing assets, development sites. More importantly, you\u2019re going to have a very deep Rolodex of professionals within the industry, which in RE is indispensable. If your goal is to work at an operator, PE Find, developer, or start your own shop and work in an acquisitions or asset management capacity this is absolutely the way to go. I work at a large developer and we almost exclusively hire analysts / associates from the investment sales brokerages. \n\nTenant rep - very important part of the business but hyper specific. You\u2019re the conduit between the operator and the tenant, you get the lions share of the brokerage commission, which in CRE is a big number, but it\u2019s an estimate what you kill environment. Exit opps are difficult, but most good tenant rep brokers absolutely crush it and don\u2019t ever want to leave the business. \n\nDebt - similar to investment sales but specializing in sourcing debt for investors. Interesting business, get paid via fees and a lot of exit oops to go work at principals, RE funds etc. \n\nIf I was starting over, I would go 100% investment sales. Technical skills, breadth of experience and network. \n\nGood luck.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "flu4zx9", "text": "I am a tenant rep broker at a national firm and can confirm you will be making plenty of cold calls if you jump into Tenant rep Brokerage. Especially in a downturn where senior brokers are not going to sacrifice their lifestyle to fund yours. \n\nThe only way you get out of prospecting is by being a teams LOI bitch for a team or landing a position with a very generous Senior. Beware though...when the senior broker leaves or retires it\u2019s definitely not a guarantee you will inherit any of their clients. \n\nIf you\u2019re not into sales take a salary job.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]