Advice for CRE rookie for their RE investing career path? REPE
So there’s not much activity in this great sub so hopefully this adds a bit of meat!

I currently work in valuations data, i have no RE education, but I have 2 years experience. My dream role would to be work in RE private equity. Or if not, other investment driven roles - maybe someone could recommend more… I have my CFA L1 too.

What should I do to achieve my desired career. My current plan is to network and get my financial modelling to the best level possible.

Also, how difficult is it to pivot from RE to non-RE investing roles?

If anyone has any suggestions/criticisms of my plan, i’m all ears.

TL:DR Advice for a career in CRE investing.
[{"id": "h9ewi3k", "text": "In the same boat. Will be following. Best of luck !", "replies": [{"id": "h9ewke7", "text": "You too \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffd", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9ewmy3", "text": "I\u2019ve seen it done many ways.  One of the most prominent multifamily owners in my submarket is a former roofer.  \n\nThe easiest (in my opinion) would be to join an investment sales team as a broker or analyst in the asset class you\u2019re interested in.  You\u2019ll learn about underwriting, valuation, and the deal/transaction process.  If you\u2019re a good broker, you\u2019ll likely make much more early on than you would in a REPE seat, and you\u2019ll get to know who all the players are.\n\nFWIW, I started down the CFA path as well and it has absolutely no practical application in this field.  Good resume booster but no one cares or knows what it is.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9f57jv", "text": "Network. Many small to medium shops are looking for hungry analysts.\n\nMRED if necessary, but only at a Uni with good alumni network.\n\nCFA is known, but doesn't mean anything other than you are a grinder who loves pain and has a good work ethic. Which means something, just not the same as IB or AM.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9f8dbz", "text": "I work as a development analyst for a regional multifamily developer. I started with no real estate experience coming from the hotel industry. I went the education route and got a 1 year MS degree in real estate and the build environment from University of Denver. The school got me an internship with a publicly traded REIT\u2019s development group and that internship helped me land a development analyst role. I avoided brokerage to maintain quality of life.", "replies": [{"id": "h9ixskx", "text": "I just started in CU Boulder\u2019s MBA program on the Real Estate pathway. Can i shoot you a DM to talk about the Denver job market?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9fjos0", "text": "&gt; I currently work in valuations data\n\nCan you explain that better?  I'm not sure what that means.  RE valuations?  are you a db admin for some wall street firm dealing with stocks?  If you better explain your starting point here it would help", "replies": [{"id": "h9fkm8z", "text": "Sorry, pretty vague.\n\nI am doing the data analysis behind office valuations for a cre firm.\n\nImagine asset managers with offices in new york. My team value them &amp; i analyse the data.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9fqowj", "text": "If you think JPM will be interested as a financial analyst, they have a lot mba and even better educated professionals also interested. Improving your coding skills may be a starting point.  Many are really computer AI, ML scientists working in that area.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9fv1nc", "text": "How hard was the guest CFA exam? I\u2019m taking it soon. And yea the best advice ur gonna get is NETWORK lol", "replies": [{"id": "h9g3mpj", "text": "Level 1 not difficult although pass rate this time was 25%. Just study hard.", "replies": [{"id": "h9hdtcw", "text": "Thanks for the input!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9g98os", "text": "I\u2019m in the same boat. Just graduated college, i had a phone interview today but it was for a broker firm, I\u2019d much rather work in the investment side and not the transaction side of it. Analyze multi family properties and make recommendations to my firm to purchase it or not.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9ghs7b", "text": "I work for a small shop that only does deals ranging from $10M to $80M. I have done all asset classes and all types of financing(bridge loan, construction financing, refi, term loan, you name it).\n\nMy best tip would be to network a lot with alumni and people in the industry. Trust that the old coffee chat works. Real Estate is all about networking!\n\nAdditionally, I would strongly recommend working for a small/mid-size shop as you would absolutely learn way more in comparison to a Big Corp.\n\nHere's a link with good resources for CRE: [https://www.adventuresincre.com/re-modeling/](https://www.adventuresincre.com/re-modeling/)\n\nLet me know if I can help you in any way!  \n\n\nCheers and best of luck! :)", "replies": [{"id": "h9gintl", "text": "Thanks! Ill make sure to network! \n\nIn terms of studying, would you say the most important thing to do is learn financial modelling?\n\nThanks.", "replies": [{"id": "h9gj6h4", "text": "Basic models such as Equity Waterfalls and Cash Flow/Investment Analysis (with metrics such as CoC, IRR and etc) would be a good entry point!\n\nUnderwriting is one of the fundamentals in order to understand valuation.\n\nWhere do you live? Big firms such as CBRE, JLL and Cushman and Wakefield do provides quarterly a market update which have tons of crucial info (such as CAP rate, asking rent on the market and etc..)\n\nIn my opinion, your personal understanding of the market has a heavier weight than modeling (understanding regulations/legislation in-place and financing requirements for example).", "replies": [{"id": "h9gje5j", "text": "Ok thats cool. I work for X. So i have lots of exposure to the market and reports to develop my understanding.\n\nEdit: removed firm name.", "replies": [{"id": "h9gjn2p", "text": "&gt;jll. So i have lots of exposure to the market and reports to develop my understanding.\n\nThat's amazing! What's your role?   \n\n\nIn this case, I would definitely focus more on understanding regulations/legislation and financing requirements!  \n\n\nYou would be a beast after this.", "replies": [{"id": "h9gjtw8", "text": "Im an analyst. Thanks. Ill write that down and make sure to do this. Appreciate the response", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9gz45v", "text": "I was in a similar role years ago and my mentor recommended commercial appraisal.  I started that with the intention of moving over to investment sales or private equity, but loved my current role too much.  It\u2019s a good place to learn all property types and analyze trends and do financial modeling if you\u2019re with a big firm.  Good stepping stone.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h9hjnsq", "text": "RE private equity professional here. Two most common paths i\u2019ve seen are 1) worked at a large cre lender and completed their cre analyst training and move into an analyst role at a pe shop after 2+ years at the bank or 2) got an MBA with a cre focus. Intern at a PE shop between yr 1 and yr 2 and get a job at that shop or a competitor after graduation.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]