Commercial Real Estate Job Transition Question
Hi all, 

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Hoping someone can give me some insight on the career path to working in Commercial Real Estate. I've been working in B2B sales for about 5 years now and was just offered a role with a business brokerage. They would be taking me on and training me while I get my real estate license and after that, I would be responsible for buying and selling the business's in their portfolio. From what I understand, although I am primarily focussed on the business itself, I'd also be involved in selling the actual property of the business. 

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I'm wondering if I work in this role for a couple of years, if I will have the experience necessary to move over to a Commercial Real Estate brokerage. The business broker deals with smaller business's in the $500K-$5M range and I'm trying to identify some exit ops and areas to grow in my career over the next 5-10 years if I accept. 

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Any information would be helpful! Thanks!
[{"id": "eruco9n", "text": "If you are involved in buying, selling, or leasing commercial buildings, you should be qualified to eventually move into brokerage, especially after a couple years. There are some good things about this opportunity you have in the business brokerage. One, you get to learn about what businesses look for in buildings. Whether its an office, retail shop, or a warehouse, you will learn what building features are important to businesses. Second, you'll learn about purchase and lease contracts. When you are involved in a real estate transaction, understanding a Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) or a Lease Agreement is extremely important because knowing what to look for is how you can bring value to your clients. Also, you'll learn how to negotiate. \n\nWhile it's important to get familiar with the things I described above, the most important thing you can do is find a mentor. Finding a mentor will unlock so many doors for you. It's a relationship business, and people do business with people they know, like, trust. A mentor can help you get in the business, introduce you to his/her network, and really teach you what it takes to be a great broker. It can be challenging to find someone who is willing to take you under his/her wing, but I suggest trying to find that person.", "replies": [{"id": "ervc0rj", "text": "Thanks for your advice! The person who offered me the role used to be a colleague of mine, he said for the first 6 months to a year I will basically be shadowing him to learn the business, I think this will go a long way in terms of mentorship.\n\nThe business broker offering the job is pretty small, mainly dealing with franchise's that are being sold to new immigrants. I'd like to expand out of that and work with some bigger listings down the road. Is commercial generally more lucrative than business brokerage for someone with experience and connections? I've seen some listings in the city ranging from $10M to $20M so it appeared a step up. \n\nFrom my research, these smaller business brokerages get tapped out at a certain point because the bigger companies would work with an investment bank in mergers and acquisitions. I figured, if I wanted to start frying bigger fish in a couple of years, commercial real estate would be the best exit. Does this line of thinking make sense?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ervods1", "text": "Yes, sales is  sales and understanding a business and their real estate needs will put you light years ahead of the kids selling MF and retail these days. \n\nPlus being a business broker is not to bad in and of itself. \n\nYou are as strong as your network, so being in different fields and getting to know people is the most important part. Bringing them together is how you make your money.", "replies": [{"id": "erw8wkn", "text": "Thanks for your feedback! Would success and a strong network from being a business broker be enough to transition into a top 5 commercial real estate brokerage? I'm just trying to get an idea of what the career path would be like", "replies": [{"id": "erwaica", "text": "Depends I guess. If you are selling long John silvers and Taco Bell franchises then you more or less could get hired at Marcus or Matthews or other NNN retail groups. \n\nIf your clients are mostly payday lenders, water stores or nail salons, well, another story. \n\nThere are a couple different types of successful brokers I have seen. Those that work a geographical market, know everyone in that market, all the zoning laws and nuances of that market and who the players are. \n\nThen I see the ones that know an industry, mostly because they worked that industry and have a network of peoples problems they understand. One guys works with tire companies, because he used to work there and is doing tire deals all over the country, another guy does data centers, you get the picture. \n\nAs you are doing your business brokerage, maybe you will start to notice most of your clients are in a certain industry, and you become more active in that industry and all of a sudden you are the go to guy for people in that industry. Yeah a platform at jll or CBRE ect will benefit you, and you can network with people at the top there. \n\nYou can break into this business from anywhere, but knowing people, having detailed knowledge of their problems and business is going to be useful.", "replies": [{"id": "erz44w9", "text": "This is great information and insight. Thank you! I will be more on the franchise and small business side, so that seems like a plus. Appreciate your thoughts on finding a niche, that's good advice!", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "es8kmcf", "text": "I don\u2019t know much about business brokerages or how lucrative it is, but you can make serious money in commercial real estate. For example, I\u2019m an industrial broker working in Greater Los Angeles. A typical 30,000 square feet industrial  building in my market can sell for around $175 per square foot, so that\u2019s $5,250,000.00\n\nYour commission will be  2-3% of the sale, so your gross commission (if you get 3%) is $157,500. I know veterans in the business who make over $1,000,000 per year.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]