What are the different areas of CRE to work in?
As far as I know, it's brokerage, investment/ownership, and development. Is this correct? Are there different subsets under these various categories of CRE? I am new to this industry and want to learn about potential career paths. Thanks
[{"id": "fgk80go", "text": "CRE is a general umbrella term for the real estate involving everything but owner occupied single family housing. \n\nBesides the property type usual suspects (office, retail, industrial, warehouse, etc), CRE includes raw land, housing with 5 or more units, tax credit financing, I could go on and on and on.", "replies": [{"id": "fgk9ene", "text": "Yeah but like what are the different areas one can work in CRE?", "replies": [{"id": "fgka2i4", "text": "What you are asking is like asking what are different fields of medicine. \n\nIt\u2019s an endless list of various direct, indirect, and subsets.\n\nFor example, let\u2019s say your parents own a furniture company. You can start a CRE staging company where you can rent out the furniture to developers to showcase their new development furnished (empty shell buildings show better with furniture). \n\nAnother example, you can start a company that buys and sells CRE tax credits. Developers can apply for a variety of tax credits (low income housing, historic, new market, etc) that they never need or use, so those tax credits are sold to corporations and you receive a commission.", "replies": [{"id": "fgkax03", "text": "Are you really comparing CRE to the field of medicine? Come on now. \n\nI didn\u2019t think my question was that complicated.", "replies": [{"id": "fgkvft6", "text": "The point is there are many, many different ways to be involved.\n\ndevelopment, acquisition, asset management, disposition, property management, broker, capital raising, fund management, and more.", "replies": [{"id": "fgkw2o0", "text": "Yeah but it\u2019s confusing to figure out where you\u2019re supposed to start. What position would be the best way to gain the most experience, and provide the most flexibility to maneuver?", "replies": [{"id": "fgkzxhw", "text": "What interests you? Do you like math? Do you like working on a single project?\n\nThe good side of being an analyst at a bank is you see a little bit of everything, the downside is you learn maybe 10% of what it takes to get a deal to a banker. But banks are a super stable job.\n\nDevelopment is a little looser and more risk, but WAY more upshot. Even at mid market firms an analyst can make I would guess double what a banker analyst can make. But less job security. However you learn everything from putting dirt under contract through value engineering, proforma solving, and you get to see a project come to fruition.\n\nThere are pros/cons to each.", "replies": [{"id": "fgl4899", "text": "I'm definitely more of the creative type. Yeah I can do math but I am a visionary and have some artistic abilities. I was thinking I'll start in brokerage and then move into the development side.", "replies": [{"id": "fgl7bha", "text": "Perhaps architecture then? They have design folks that don\u2019t need a ton of math. The developers works with the architect so you would still be exposed to the development side. Our new hire is from an architect background.", "replies": [], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fgkcml5", "text": "Alright cool thanks. So what would be the best place to start? Just get my license,head into commercial brokerage and take it from there?", "replies": [{"id": "fgki9vl", "text": "If you really want to learn how CRE works across the board, get a job as an analyst at a bank. You are immediately exposed to every kind of CRE desk you can imagine (if you dig and do homework). You\u2019ll see the good, the bad, and the ugly. \n\nIt\u2019s funny how the brokers and frequent posters and commenters on this thread just assume all CRE is broker and developer based, and forget that at least more than half of the $$$ is coming from banks either directly, or indirectly.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fgkb1z1", "text": "There is a number of choices: property management, asset management, project management, lending, sourcing, different types of companies (REITs, family offices, endowments), leasing, tenant rep, the list goes on and on...", "replies": [{"id": "fgkbpka", "text": "If someone says they work on the \u201cinvestment side\u201d what does that mean? Just an example", "replies": [{"id": "fgkenbi", "text": "Principal side aka ownership", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fgkem48", "text": "Google it.", "replies": [{"id": "fgkh17r", "text": "Touch\u00e9", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fgkv4tb", "text": "To add a few more to the list, there are also other jobs where you could choose to focus on commercial real estate: appraisal, construction management, architecture/design, accounting, law, hr/recruiting. I\u2019m also surprised no one has mentioned acquisitions thus far haha", "replies": [{"id": "fgkw7ol", "text": "Haha I didn\u2019t realize there was so much. What do you do?", "replies": [{"id": "fgl0a9x", "text": "I started off my career doing appraisal and am moving into acquisitions and asset management later this month", "replies": [{"id": "fgl4ay2", "text": "Awesome! I'd love to do something like that someday, I'm just doing my best to get my foot in the door for now though.", "replies": [{"id": "fgl9io5", "text": "I think that\u2019s the best path, just getting your foot in the door with a commercial real estate group that is willing to teach. As long as future employers can see you\u2019ve had a credible interest in real estate, no pivot is completely impossible once you decide what exact path you want to go down. You should look at some of the posts on Wall Street Oasis if you want ideas for potential paths", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fgltw3o", "text": "Property management, valuation, research, etc. The list is massive", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fhe94jv", "text": "I\u2019m a broker &amp; I love it!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]