I'm a young commercial appraiser uninterested in continuing down this path. Any of you more experienced folks have any thoughts on what directions I should consider?
I'm 30 years old and have appraised a broad range of product including golf courses, camp grounds, vacation rentals in seasonal locales, hotels, retail, office, industrial, multifamily (both market and low income LIHTC/RAD), self-storage facilities, and probably some other stuff I can't think of.  I've appraised stuff in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, California, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Florida.  I've appraised for banks and life insurance companies.  I've appraised shit as bland as a 10-acre piece of dirt in New Hampshire to $20-30 million multifamily developments in Houston.
  
In short, I've got good experience with a broad range of products all over the country. I just don't want to continue with appraisal. It's just not for me.  However, I would like to build on what I've learned and stay within CRE.  I'd appreciate any guidance anyone has to offer.
[{"id": "dlfvksg", "text": "Been doing 5 years of residential in San Diego myself, it just depends on what you want to do.  I am actively trying to get a job in the acquisitions area to learn how these big guys do things so I can start my own fund within a few years.  Given you already have years of evaluating and comping CRE I think that acquisitions would be a good start for you.  Maybe even financial analysis since you have had to crunch the numbers.", "replies": [{"id": "dlfxo2b", "text": "Thanks for the thoughts. That's actually what I keep leaning toward. The job title off financial analyst sounds particularly dry, but oddly enough I love spreadsheeting.  Give me an excel project and I'm liable to stay up all night building what I need. This is likely the direction in which I need to start looking.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlfvpur", "text": "Broker if you can sell. Land acquisition for home builder if you know construction. Property manager for company that has a portfolio of real estate. Financial analyst... if you have some money you could flip properties . Some ideas. I know two appraisers that quit. One went to the sales side. The other became an assessor and took a pay cut for the job security.", "replies": [{"id": "dlfwv9n", "text": "I considered the broker route a few years ago... even had a lunch meeting with one of the VPs at CBRE here in Austin. After much consideration came to the conclusion that the stress of closing deals for a paycheck isn't what I'm after.  The stress of it would just eat me up.  \n  \nI think being part of a group who acquires and manages properties is more in line with what I would be happy with. I've got a decent amount of money in the bank (about $160 net worth, maybe $60k liquid).  Not setting records with that, but enough to feel sort of comfortable.  I like the idea of being able to work with the same thing on a regular basis, to have a more intimate relationship with the subject of my attention. With appraisal it's just a constant slog to get your value down and move on to the next one.  It's just such an unfulfilling grind.  \n", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlfwr1u", "text": "Is there any particular asset you've found yourself consistently doing? What aspect of CRE do you like to work on? Focus and specialize in something that you're good at. As an example, If you've worked on multiple self-storage facilities in California and you like the deal process, maybe you should be a CRE Agent (licensed in CA) that specializes on self-storage facilities.\n\nHow do you have such a broad range of experience in the Appraisal industry? Did you learn how to value all of these different assets from school?", "replies": [{"id": "dlfxzz9", "text": "The guy I do work for just likes to keep things interesting and one of our clients deals in projects all over the country.  All the stuff in New England is from one of his friends who sends us his overflow.  My boss is just happy to take anything and everything that comes his way. I studied economics in school, went into oil and gas afterward and just kind of stumbled into commercial appraisal. So my appraisal education has essentially just been trial by fire.\n  \nI'm an excel guy... I eat this shit up. As I mentioned to one of the other responders, hours just fly by while I'm messing around in excel. I'd probably be pretty content if someone paid me to just build spreadsheets all day.  \n  \nAsset-specific wise, it varies and it comes in waves.  At first it was a lot of multi-family.  Then lots of industrial.  Seems like the last few months have been primarily retail and income-restricted apartments.  If there's one asset I would choose to never appraise again, it would be an income-restricted apartment.  The thought of appraising a HUD 223f deal is the stuff of nightmares.  If I were to order them from top to bottom, I'd probably say my preference is Multi-family (i find it to be the most straight forward) &gt; Office/Retail &gt; Industrial &gt; Everything else", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlh5hr2", "text": "I was in a similar boat. Commercial appraiser for 6 years, decided I didn't want to do it long term. I wound up at an investment adviser, working with institutional real estate. As someone who got burnt out on writing appraisal reports, it's been a great change for me. Personally, knowing what real estate is worth is an incredibly important skill in the industry and translates well to other sectors. \n\nEach shop is different, but at mine, the underwriters support acquisition officers. The Acq guys are out sourcing transactions and the underwriters are the ones crunching the numbers. Each shop is different, but underwriting could be a good fit. Commercial lenders also need underwriters for their loans, may be another place to consider. TO me it's a little less exciting, you don't actually own/operate the real estate as the lender, but its a similar exercise. \n", "replies": [{"id": "dlitu8y", "text": "Thanks for the response. So what are your responsibilities in your current role and what was the interview process like?   \n  \nThere are a few big things that I think have prevented me from moving on:  \n* I feel some sort of responsibility to the guy who trained me; like i need to make sure he makes enough money off me to have justified his efforts  \n* The idea of going through an interview process someone terrifies me; I hate that kind of stuff  \n* I work from home and have the flexibility to work when I want... That's tough to give up", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]