Career Paths in Commercial Real Estate
Hello Reddit,

I am currently a sophomore in NYC intending to study Real Estate in my Business School and I have a  few questions.

1. How could I get started on the financial or development side of Commercial Real Estate ? Normally,in other industries, there would be internships in companies​ to gain experience. Is it different in the real estate industry?

2. Does one have to go through the broker route? How did you get started in the field of CRE? 

3. Is there any resources I can read to get a better picture of the various careers within CRE.
[{"id": "dfqgn2a", "text": "There are internships at the bigger firms. You don't have to be a broker but that's where the money is. There are different support roles. Analysts. If I started again I would take people to lunch that have different roles and discuss the job and see what fits best. I got lucky and ended up in exactly what fits me but I've met many people that are doing a job that doesn't fit. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dg0s9zj", "text": "Many folks start out in the commercial brokerage world, but its a tough road.  You're usually working for a big shop.  If you get passed anything its the smaller or difficult deals the experienced folks are not going to bother with.  Your getting commission so the first few years are going to suck.  Typically it takes 5-10 years to build up a reputation and client base so that you've created a name for yourself.  Best bet is to try and get with a boutique firm so you can get a lot of exposure vs. being in a cube farm.\n\nAlternately would be to get in with one of the NY PE firms and start the as an entry level analyst.  The hours are terrible (I can pick up the phone at 9PM and almost always get an analyst at his desk), but you work your way up, you do your job and again in 5-10 years if your good at what you do your going to get higher up the food chain.  Once your putting your own deals together if you know what your doing you can pretty much write your own ticket.\n\nThe other end of the spectrum is working for a small PE dev shop with 2-5 guys and jump in as an entry level.  You will probably do a little bit of everything and will get a huge amount of experience.   Not as much burn out as the analyst job, but you will probably be more well rounded also.\n\nI know folks who have down every path, neither are right or wrong, just need to know what your getting into to and where you want to end up.\n\nMy path was via architecture, so not directly applicable to your finance background.  Happy to chat more if have any other questions you want to bounce off me.\n\nBRENT", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]