Student that eventually wants to be a player in the Commerical Real Estate game.
Hello all, I am a current student in a finance undergrad, I have a strong affinity for commercial real estate and all of the wealth to be had with it in the long run.

Are there any career paths in commercial real estate that will prepare someone for later investing in commercial real estate. I understand that analysis of financial statements is huge for determining the buying price and getting a cap rate for a commercial unit. I've looked into commerical brokerage but other than potential connections I don't know if this path has the depth of analytics needed for commerical real estate, as it seems to be mostly sales.

I do understand that anyone can buy commerical property as money is the true first barrier of entry, so what careers do you think will prepare someone for a future in amassing a large portfolio of commerical property, may the be financially and knowledge? 

Any help is greatly appreciated!
[{"id": "f3sbeaw", "text": "You can build wealth with commercial real estate, as you said - in the long run.\n\nThere is a long path ahead of you, likely through some extremely hard work, long hours and lean years to get to the point of having a large portfolio of commercial property. Not to talk you out of it, but you you should go in knowing there are no short cuts or quick paths to success.\n\nAs far as career paths, there are many options. Most people get experience for years in one or more real estate related discipline while the amass the credit, connections, money and skills needed to build their own portfolio. Brokerage is one option, commercial lending, law, construction, development, etc. There is no one right path.", "replies": [{"id": "f3sc6up", "text": "I fully agree with it being in the long run, I'm not really looking for a fast track. Just looking for career suggestions that will primary revolve around commerical real estate that will give me a slight edge on my path to a large portfolio. \nCommercial lending/ banking sounds interesting upon further research. \n\nHow do you like being a commercial broker? How much is sales versus analysis?", "replies": [{"id": "f3sdn5e", "text": "Brokerage is more sales, but you do also need to underwrite properties to properly assess what they are worth. You will also get to see first hand how to source potential investment properties, commission structures, lease-up/redevelopment and be exposed to zoning, sales and leasing contracts, construction/estimating and other important skills.\n\nCommercial lending also touches pretty much every type of commercial property as well and you will learn more about finance structures, interest rates, depreciation, and do lots of underwriting.\n\nIn either field, keep in mind if you spend all your time doing something like very large size institutional deals, those skills will be useful, but less transferable to the types of deals you will likely be investing in at first, compared to small / mid-size properties.", "replies": [{"id": "f3sdt9t", "text": "Understandable, may I message you to learn more about the infancy stages of working in commerical brokerages?", "replies": [{"id": "f3sf6yo", "text": "Sure. Feel free.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3sd8h4", "text": "The most direct path to gaining the knowledge and experience to become an owner of commercial real estate is to work on the ownership side. That would be, eventually, as an asset manager or as an acquisitions officer. To get there, you can start in valuations (at CBRE, for example) or as an asset management or acquisitions analyst (though this may require a step before being ready for that position).\n\nI'm an acquisitions officer and have been an asset manager in the past (including positions in asset analysis and leasing/property management to start). By this point (11 years into my career, post-bachelors), I know how to structure a fund, raise capital, identify acquisition opportunities, create business plans worthy of attention, and operate real estate to deliver on those business plans. That's the collection of knowledge required.\n\nMy perspective is biased by my experience, but I think the path that I've taken is the most effective to being prepared to own your own portfolio.\n\nPS...\n\n&gt;  I understand that analysis of financial statements is huge for determining the buying price and getting a cap rate for a commercial unit.  \n\nThat's not really true. I don't look at financial statements when underwriting deals, except to double check that the historical operations match the provided pro forma cash flow (typically regarding expenses and misc income). Reading financial statements is more applicable to asset management - and even then it's typically just comparing income statements year over year (or pro forma to actuals or budget to actuals). Go talk with some people that are on the equity side (ownership side) and get more feedback.", "replies": [{"id": "f3sdoq3", "text": "May I message you to learn more about your career path ?", "replies": [{"id": "f3se0b8", "text": "Absolutely.", "replies": [{"id": "f3szf3r", "text": "Do you mind if I message you as well? I went the sales route, and did well, but after 4 years, I really want to transition to the ownership side. \n\nWould love to get some advice and tips on how to break in. It\u2019s been tough", "replies": [{"id": "f3t3zkd", "text": "Glad to talk", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "f3upp13", "text": "This is so 100% true.   \n\nIf you want to be an owner ... work with owners !!!!  TA DAHHH\n\nIt sounds so simple but so many guys in your shoes want to have all this background from having a certain degree, to sales, to analysis, to brokerage, to knowing as many asset classes as possible, in as many markets as possible, and so on and so on.  \n\n90% of it is horseshit !\n\nGo work with owners and find out what is most important to them.  I assure you it isn't reading financial docs or learning how to make a spreadsheet.\n\nAnd you're 100% wrong that the biggest obstacle to getting into commercial RE is money.  It's a lack of knowledge of how the entire process works.  And I'm not talking about what you can read in a text book.  I'm talking about having your own money on the line throughout the entire process from searching for a property, to negotiating, to contract, to financing, to management or sale of the asset.  I can go into any city in the country, pretend I'm poor, and still get a deal done because everything I say and do will instill confidence in anyone who is involved with the deal.  Yes, that comes with almost 3 decades worth of business acumen but it makes the point, that deals can be done with no money.\n\nI have a guy I hired (from Reddit) about 2 months ago who is in almost exactly your shoes ... young, some minor experience but wants to get into commercial RE.  I had about 30 people apply for the job.  He was my first phone call and I called no one else !!! Did you get that, I never asked for his credentials.  All ll I heard was young, hungry, and ready to make it happen.      \nWithin 2 months he has had hands on experience with managing 7/8 crews totaling about 50 guys, dealt with supply houses/HD/Lowes on hundreds of thousands of dollars, watched as a head contractor with about 50 guys was fired, sat in the office while a $20m deal fell apart days from closing ..... only to have it resurrected over the weekend (in which I walked him through the steps of what happened), he's dealing with about 10 property managers all with different personalities.  He's now running point on a smaller deal to see how he does.  In 2 fucking months he's already got more experience than 50% of the guys out there.  He is killing it so far and within 2 years he'll be able to talk with anyone and he'll be doing his own deals.", "replies": [{"id": "f4ne6f9", "text": "Not OP but How did he find you? What kind of positions work with owners straight out of university?", "replies": [{"id": "f4nqqmd", "text": "Someone who has at least average intelligence, is hungry as fuck, and willing to do anything while they learn.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3sezna", "text": "Everywhere you look, most things worthwhile will be sales. \nKnowing buyers and their needs, and knowing sellers and their needs, at the end of the day it is a relationship business focused around sales. \n\nIn some private equity shops a good portion of your compensation comes from ownership in the deals you do. And sometimes instead of a commission, you can get paid in an ownership part of the deal. This really helps because if you own a portion of the property, it is harder for other brokers to come in an try to push you out of the deal. \n\nDon't go to appraisal or property management and move up the value chain. Brokers make broker money, but who pays the brokers? The developers make developer money.", "replies": [{"id": "f3sf8ke", "text": "Understandable, money is very important to reach the money barrier to entry but I'd gladly take less money in order to gain more knowledge.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3sshh3", "text": "i graduated in may of 17 and tried to land at one of the big boxes without any luck, signed with a boutique company in january of 18 that mainly focuses on property management, only about 1/4 of their gross revenue comes from brokerage, i got really lucky being taken under the wing of two mentors, one office/medical and one industrial, ive traded income for knowledge these first couple years but it has definitely helped me learn what works and what doesn\u2019t. be flexible and lend yourself to any and all options, in the end it\u2019s about finding the right fit for you personally, the right people make all the difference in the world, commercial brokerage is a very tight knit niche, everyone knows everyone, if you\u2019ve got the personality for it you can be wildly successful, but patience is key cuz you\u2019re right, it is a long term play.", "replies": [{"id": "f3ssq9a", "text": "Does boutique in this sense just mean much smaller revenue/ capital?", "replies": [{"id": "f3ssxt3", "text": "yes, more of a \u201cmom and pop\u201d real estate company. it\u2019s full service, but we focus on small businesses primarily", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3to1i5", "text": "Commercial real estate appraisal can give you the fundamental knowledge to accurately value real estate. It\u2019s a lot of extra work to get your license, but there are few better ways to get a feel for the bigger picture on the valuation side.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3toiuf", "text": "Here are the paths:\n- Development\n- Real Estate Private Equity\n- Long-term investment company\n- Lending (bank, life insurance company, CMBS, private debt, debt funds)\n- Brokerage\n- Appraisal\n\nGeneral roles:\n- Acquisitions (equity) / Originator (debt)\n- Developer\n- Asset management\n\nLearn about all of these terms.  There are entire chapters of books (and entire books) about each item above.", "replies": [{"id": "f3tor3q", "text": "Thank you", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3tq324", "text": "find the highest producing brokerage firms and go work for them, intern if you have to....you\u2019ll soon be aligned with individuals that achieved the goals you are, and you\u2019ll be dealing with high net worth individuals pretty soon", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f3u3t54", "text": "The best preparation for doing deals is to do deals. For my money, that means that brokerage will give you the fastest ability to earn unlimited salary (and therefore be able to invest your own pile of cash) and connect/*build trust with* HNWIs/players in your local market (and potentially invest *their* pile of cash). As /u/cbarrister said, the broker is involved with every part of the deal, and good brokers develop knowledge/skills to help at each stage of the transaction. You probably don't need nearly the depth of analytics you think you do, you need exposure to a lot of deals and properties.\n\nAlso, brokerage gives you the closest approximation to ownership possible - if the deal doesn't close, you don't eat. That's still a far cry from \"I've invested a teacher's life salary in these apartments, if they don't cash flow the bank will take my house and everything else,\" but it's closer than you'll get on any other career path in the industry.", "replies": [{"id": "f3u5bmb", "text": "I appreciate you for putting in that way for me. Experience beats knowledge always.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f43124o", "text": "I've been doing commercial mortgage banking since I graduated 4 years ago. It's a great niche in real estate where you get exposure to all property types while working with almost all the different branches of real estate. On any given day I'm interacting with our lenders, borrowers, brokers, property managers, vendors, etc. You get to see the entrepreneurial side of the business and work on building relationships with all of those parties, but mainly your lenders and borrowers. \n\nIt's a great career path to stay in and dabble in ownership as well. I know plenty of guys that own a few buildings or develop as a side gig. \n\nFeel free to shoot me a pm if you have any questions.", "replies": [{"id": "f43131k", "text": " Hi interacting, I'm Dad!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f4vo86t", "text": "If you go into \n\nAfter I bought my first 3 properties, but before I purchased my first 5+ multifamily I read [Crushing it](https://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Apartments-Commercial-Real-Estate/dp/0998381624/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=commercial+real+estate&amp;qid=1571845111&amp;sr=8-6). Its a very easy read about the practical side of investing.\n\nIf you want to get better at charts and analysis you can take CCIM courses. These are geared towards brokers/agents who want a deeper understanding of certain aspects of commercial RE. \n\n\nI'm currently a split my time between investment and commercial brokerage. I don't think you need to be a broker if sales doesn't fit your personality. But if you are in the industry it definitely helps.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]