Investment Real Estate Analyst
Is anyone in this field/career? I am trying to get into this field and want to understand what the day to day is like.
[{"id": "di1fygh", "text": "My suggestion is to find someone at a big CRE (CBRE, Cushman, JLL, etc) firm on LinkedIn or just call them up from the website. Introduce yourself and tell em why you are calling. See if you can grab some coffee with them to learn more about their role and why they go into the business.\n\nIf you want to be an investment real estate analyst, pick an industry..multi family, office, capital markets, industrial etc. The multi family guy most likely wont meet you if you want to break into office investment sales vica versa. \n\nAlso want to be specific...for example don't say, I want to get into commercial real estate and every aspect sounds interesting to me, I just want to get a job and go from there. Instead say, I want to be an office tenant rep guy, (be specific) because I love meeting people, overcoming challenges blah blah", "replies": [{"id": "di1g01m", "text": "On that comment, on the investment side you most likely will have to know Argus or other model building platforms", "replies": [{"id": "di21gox", "text": "Multifamily is almost exclusively proprietary excel models.  Argus for everything else.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "di1gh7r", "text": "That's exactly what I did to get my position. I had one connection and started from there, networking while I was still in school. By the time I graduated, I had about 25 guys I could email/call and let them know I'm looking for work. ", "replies": [{"id": "di1h8vt", "text": "Yep and then ask the connection, especially if the meeting went well, if they have anyone else you could meet in the industry.", "replies": [{"id": "di1ho9g", "text": "This sounds like a good plan. Any recommendations on what to read up on or potential courses to take since this isn't what I studied? I studied Economics. ", "replies": [{"id": "di1ifv2", "text": "I dont think you need to have your RE license, but you may for some projects you do. Always is a bonus to have it though. Look up any articles you find on the market you are interest in. Typically the big firms will have quarterly research available for free on a market you can read up on. ", "replies": [{"id": "di1m6wl", "text": "Thanks! I'll check that out ", "replies": [{"id": "di1yz0b", "text": "Propertymetrics.com has some good stuff. ", "replies": [{"id": "di2if04", "text": "I send all of my interns to their blog and tell them to read for a few hours each day their first week.", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "di1s2gh", "text": "&gt;  Instead say, I want to be an office tenant rep guy,\n\narent tenant rep brokers? Are investment analysts also brokers? I thought they supported the brokers on the team. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "di1squh", "text": "Many years ago I was a low-income housing financial analyst. \n\nYou will need to know a lot of excel and argus but if you're entry level, they just want someone willing to learn and be passionate about the space. You really have to ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years because there isn't much growth in this field without taking a more administrative role like asset manager. If you're passionate about the analysis side, you could work yourself up to a senior or lead FA role. \n\nFor myself, i spent almost all of my time creating valuations on properties owned by our clients and then presenting the valuations to our directors who then pitch it back to the owner to convince them to sell. That's it, for 2 years. \n\nI learned a whole lot about valuations but wish I hadn't holed myself in such a niche space. But even now, I invest heavily in real estate so all the prior skills I learned came in handy. \n\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "di2jk0j", "text": "You invest personally/as a principal with a firm or just have investments managed by others in RE?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "di1u7fr", "text": "I work in the commercial real estate investment group for a hedge fund. Day to day is very intense and very long - but also really interesting! I work on buy and repositioning very distressed assets all over the globe (but mostly just North America) and across all property types. What are you interested in learning about?", "replies": [{"id": "di21w1i", "text": "I'm really trying to gauge whether or not this is the right field for me. I'm at the point where I need to start dedicating my time to a particular path and while I like the data Analyst side, I feel my experience and skills make me more marketable for finance positions", "replies": [{"id": "di22h7m", "text": "Understanding data is the most important part to finance. Out of curiosity how do you see the roles as being any different?", "replies": [{"id": "di235e1", "text": "I personally don't. I agree that understanding data is very important but most to all companies want someone with that real estate experience and therefore look over me", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "di2ni00", "text": "Personally", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "di2sfau", "text": "I work in Acquisitions for a medium-sized private firm. We are currently seeking to double the size of our company's portfolio this year, which shines the spotlight directly on the Acquisitions department (consisting of 4 people, myself included). Much of what I do involves communicating with brokers to source potential acquisitions.\n\nI usually start by mapping a property and determining its dominance in the market (we purchase multi-tenant shopping centers in secondary, tertiary, and sub-tertiary markets) using Google Earth and Google Maps. If the demographics and competitiveness of a market fit our criteria, I'll take the property's information and conduct a basic internal underwriting. After getting an idea of the shopping center's financial performance, I'll follow up with the listing broker to receive pricing guidance. If we are going to be \"in the ball park\" on pricing, then I take the property to the execs and submit an offer. If we are too far off on pricing, we usually let the property finish its marketing cycle and revisit the deal if it is still on the market.\n\nThere are many different types of analytical work to be conducted with investment properties, it typically varies from firm to firm based on their investment goals and product interests.\n\nEdit: grammar is hard", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]