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[{"id": "hpcb7ns", "text": "Yes this is pretty much par for the course.  It's a shame this wasn't communicated to you.  A research analyst at a brokerage firm is in most cases a young person that doesn't mind doing some grunt work while they learn about the real estate market and industry with the eventual goal of becoming a broker.  If this isn't what you were looking for you should find something else.  Don't feel bad about looking, it's a high turnover job.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpcd17p", "text": "Yes this is typical for what a research analyst does for these firms. I would look into economic firms that focus on real estate. They put together market research reports like feasibility studies for a client entering a market or assist the city with planning. There is more they do and I\u2019m probably not explaining well. I\u2019m also not familiar with day to day activity but it seems more on what you are looking for.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpcdgpn", "text": "Hey man, you nailed it and your experience closely mirrors every other research analyst. Duties include googling things for brokers too lazy to do literally anything that doesn\u2019t benefit them immediately. \n\nFigure out if this is an industry you want to be in. It is pretty easy work with lots of downtime. Network with other researchers and see if you can jump ship to get paid more money. \n\nLearn costar and other programs and get the f out of there as soon as possible. \n\nYou may just have a backlog of comps to enter in because the last guy was someone\u2019s nephew who did jack shit. After you enter all those in, look up compstak, and then get paid.", "replies": [{"id": "hpciiwv", "text": "Is research analysis, as a field, just data entry? Or is this phenomenon specific to CRE?", "replies": [{"id": "hpck3eo", "text": "Depends on the company. When taking a job there are three things to keep in mind. 1. What they told you you were hired for. 2. What they really hired you for and 3. What they actually need. \n\nVery rarely will these ever match. It is much easier to lie to people and promise them that things will change then actually explain you are doing brain dead easy data entry. \n\nThe problem in CRE is that you have like 10 different bosses and often brokers will sense fresh blood and dump all their jack-off busy work on the new guy before he figures it out. \n\nAND in CRE, the people that ask you for the most shit are the people that make the least amount of money, and until you figure out the lay of the land you cannot really say no. \n\nSo OP may be doing a bunch of data entry for some junior broker who just wants free work updating his personal database instead of figuring out what the BSD actually needs.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hpdso01", "text": "No, research is not just data entry. Data cleaning can be a large part of data analysis, but data entry is not. But most researchers are getting data in bulk.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpciatx", "text": "u/EconMAhopeful I am literally in this exact situation myself. 24 years old, first job, in a CRE firm, expected data analysis, was given data entry. I am updating my resume and applying elsewhere soon.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpcm60e", "text": "Entry level jobs and being the new guy always results in grunt work especially the first several months. Suck it up. Get the experience and later you will be doing something more valuable. You will then hand the grunt work to the new guy.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpcsfeb", "text": "Yup, it's a huge bummer that firms aren't as up front about the day to day role of research analysts when interviewing. I spent 3 1/2 years in research, and luckily we had a good flow of interns that would handle the majority of data entry. If a transition to financial analyst internally isn't an option I would for sure look for other opportunities. Until you get to the director level you'll be more or less working for the brokers. Just moved to acquisitions at large PE shop and couldn't be happier. Good luck", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpcxunm", "text": "CBRE, JLL, or Colliers?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpd4b6x", "text": "Some of the brokerages will have a small team that does real research but most research jobs are exactly what you described and tend be filled by people looking to move into an analyst role then to a broker role", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpderm0", "text": "Plug away, learn all you can but start looking for something else if your gut is telling you to. Don\u2019t feel bad about looking and don\u2019t feel like you have to stick it out for 2-3 years because you don\u2019t want to look like a job hopper. Don\u2019t stay somewhere just for the sake of staying or because some \u201cexpert\u201d says you should. If you start having way more bad days than good, it is time to go. In the long run, people won\u2019t care that you left after a year and this company (or any company for that matter) you are at doesn\u2019t give a fuck about you (no matter what they say). Look out for yourself, grow your career, stay content, and grab as much money as you can along the way. (And don\u2019t forget, the new shop will have warts too.)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpdt8b1", "text": "There is a major difference between a \u201cresearch\u201d analyst at a broker and an actual research teams analyst. Real research absolutely exists in real estate. What you want to look for are companies that are actually investment managers or developers. They will have a research team.\n\nLook up the NCREIF or PREA research committees, those people are in actual research teams.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpe6ev9", "text": "I had this exact job about 1.5 years ago and it was the last \u201cjob\u201d I ever had. It was miserable enough to launch me into Residential RE full time and I have not looked back since.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpe75xo", "text": "You have to prove to them you are highly accurate and will pick up more chore.  Any job will take some time to even get accepted as a team player.  Like most jobs they are mostly repeticious.  Some firms have training classes you should attend to learn outside and eventually get in.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]