How much comp can you make in UW in the CRE industry?
This is a career path that I’m interested in because it’s stable and always needed. I’d be okay with it being a “thankless” career since the trade off is that I would have that stability.
 
The only thing I am unsure is comp. That is very important to me. I was wondering how much could I make if I were established and in a big company?
[{"id": "i1bm2xp", "text": "So a few things before I answer your direct question.\n\n1) Stability is nice but working a job you don\u2019t like will never end well. You\u2019ll end up burned out or bitter or both.\n\n2) That all said, if you really want to work in CRE, and you\u2019re specifically looking for stability, UW may not be the way to go. Asset Management, particularly on the debt side of the industry, is more stable than UW. In a down turn, less origination (for debt) or new investment (for equity) activity is common which means companies will often shed originators and underwriters, but existing assets still need people to tend to them. Bad assets still need to be worked out.\n\n3) So now, to answer your question, I\u2019m going to make a couple of assumptions: you have no prior CRE experience and if not then you have no prior CRE UW experience. If those assumptions are true, you\u2019d be starting off as an analyst or equivalent probably making $50-75K salary plus bonus, depending on the company. A full fledged underwriter can expect to make low to mid six figures. I know this is a broad range, but there\u2019s a big difference between an underwriter at a big bank in Manhattan and an underwriter at a small debt fund in Texas.", "replies": [{"id": "i1bn5p6", "text": "So I do have some CRE experience. I\u2019m in asset management but hate it. Been here for about 7 months now and wanting to make a move to underwriting. What can I potentially make if I were to make a move? At about $70K total comp currently", "replies": [{"id": "i1bnmn6", "text": "If you\u2019ve only got 7 months experience, you\u2019re not going to do much better than $70K, but obviously you should consider that you may actually like underwriting more, so at least your future potential will be higher since you\u2019ll stay in that field longer and earn more over time.\n\nIf I may ask, what don\u2019t you like about asset management? I\u2019m asking because I\u2019m trying to understand if it\u2019s asset management or CRE itself that you don\u2019t like.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]