JLL Valuation Advisory Role: Transitioning from Local Appraisal Shop
To give a little context, I’ve been working as a commercial trainee appraiser the past two years at a smaller shop within the Twin Cities. I’ve recently been given an offer from JLL to join their valuation advisory team as a Senior Analyst within their Midwest Multifamily Team. Something I believe to be a positive is that both my potential supervisor and MD at JLL recently came from CBRE after citing burnout and lack of culture as reasons for leaving and joining JLL. Not sure if this is just what all of the Big CRE firms say to try and recruit new employees, or if the culture at JLL is actually more appealing than a CBRE or C&amp;W. 

I’m wondering if anybody has any experience either working for, or working with JLL’s valuation team. Any major differences that I should note between potentially transferring from a smaller shop to a multinational firm?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
[{"id": "ir7eqpi", "text": "Sent a dm", "replies": [{"id": "ir7iv67", "text": "Same", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ir7hewn", "text": "Interested", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ir7mzmm", "text": "I\u2019ve worked at C&amp;W and IRR before it was merged into JLL in Chicago.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ir7tstf", "text": "I wanted to throw some general statements out there as someone who\u2019s worked at multiple national firms on the valuation side. Culture is only as good or bad as your boss is. You could have an MD who is heinous for culture, but if your team lead shields you from that nonsense and fosters a solid team culture, it can be a great place to work. On the flip side, if your team lead is only looking out for #1 and hanging you out to dry by giving you awful assignments while they take the easy money ones, it doesn\u2019t matter how good the corporate culture is, you\u2019d want out. \n\nThe other thing to note is that at least CBRE, JLL, and C&amp;W have all had new top guys for the Americas come in over the past few years, so culture is likely a moving target as those firms.\n\nCulture is also a challenge given the nature of our industry. Someone could tell you that they are big on work life balance, but what does that actually look like when it\u2019s 4Q and you\u2019ve got a portfolio coming down the pipeline that has a hard due date and all of a sudden that work life balance swings a lot farther to work than life. At the end of the day, we\u2019re in the service industry, and providing superior client service is largely the way that these guys all try to differentiate themselves, so if that means you lose a person to burnout, so be it as long as the client is happy. \n\nEveryone will preach about their superior culture or tech and having seen a lot of it, picking a boss you can work with and a place you can have room to grow is more important than any platitudes they throw out there in the recruiting process.", "replies": [{"id": "ir82qro", "text": "I would listen to everything Itchy says here OP. I would also add that I work at one of the big CRE Valuation firms as well. Have only worked for one so I don\u2019t have perspective on the others, but if you\u2019re going to make the jump to any of them from a local shop, be ready to work with the tech. If you leverage it properly, that alone will help you bill more gross; however if you struggle with tech make this move cautiously. We\u2019ve had local shop people who could leverage the tech and those who couldn\u2019t and that\u2019s probably the biggest issue in sinking or swimming at any of the big valuation firms for those jumping from small shops.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ir8tkwj", "text": "Could you explain what you do in this role and typical comp?", "replies": [{"id": "irb3sgg", "text": "VAS is typically just a fancy name for appraisal, though some firms also offer tax consulting, environmental and engineering assessments, and other due diligence functions under the VAS umbrella. \n\nAppraisers are just reflecting what the market value of a property is at any point in time. If you\u2019re buying a property and need a mortgage, the bank will want to know what it\u2019s worth, so they\u2019ll hire an appraiser. If you\u2019re an institutional fund that distributes it\u2019s dividend based on total AUM, you might hire an appraiser to value your portfolio annually/quarterly for that. Getting a divorce and need to know the value of your holdings? An appraiser can help with the real estate part of that. Most appraisers work on financing assignments, whether it\u2019s new loans or refinances, as well as portfolio monitoring for lenders. \n\nAppraisers will value properties using similar methodologies as other market participants, looking at income attributes and either running a cash flow or static direct cap valuation (or both), look at comps to see what other properties have sold for, as well as looking at replacement cost new and land values to come up with a value of the property. Appraisers should be reflecting the behavior of market participants, so in theory a good appraiser should be valuing a property at a similar rate as an investor would. \n\nCompensation is all over the board in this industry, and is largely production based. I\u2019m paid a commission on every appraisal I write based on the fee that we got for the assignment. This is a pretty typical structure for experienced appraisers, so you can have people who only want to do a few a month that are making 40k, and top producers making over 500k. I believe the national firms all pay entry level folks salaries to start, and they\u2019re likely in the 50-60k range.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ir7xhkg", "text": "Send me a DM", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ir82gg0", "text": "Guy, you're doing the right thing in the long term for your career, no matter what happens after this. You might take to it and be awesome, or you might burn out again. But either way the relationships that you make will pay dividends.\n\nNo matter what keep the long term mindset. Right now in your career everything is shiny and new! And it may be chaotic at times. But I can tell you from personal experience, looking back from the perspective I have now, that I would have made all the exact same decisions in the exact same order if I knew it would get me where I am today.\n\nThe brokerage path isn't right for everyone, but it's something everyone should experience if they have the chance. It will make you better and smarter and there are times where it hurts but that hurt didn't nearly overcome the sheer growth trajectory that you will experience at a national firm like JLL.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]