Commercial Real Estate Career Advice I Wish I Heard Sooner

[@BreakIntoCRE]

If you're already in the real estate industry, what's a piece of career advice you wish you'd heard sooner?

[@ashramdas2435]

Great video Justin... for me one piece of career advice I wish I had gotten when just starting out would be to focus on learning the actual skills rather than endlessly searching through KZbin for information about the industry. While watching your videos are incredibly helpful, you need to be willing to sit in the weeds and learn how to actually build a pro forma, and calculate return and risk metrics from those cash flows, and work within excel in general. You need to be able to do it over and over and over again; only at that point are you ready to go out and make a contribution to an organization. Focus on the skills you are building, not on the results...as kobe would say it is about the journey not the destination.

[@BreakIntoCRE]

So well-said, Ash. Agreed completely. I also love that you dropped the Kobe reference. You can’t lose in business with a Mamba mindset. Thanks for the input!

[@lixvxx]

I feel you explained 2 minutes for why you need these 3 advices😂 which is not the biggest problem. Thank you for your time for giving those advices but I feel these are quite generic and could apply to different industries if you adapt the context……so essentially, technical skills, connection, experience, make decisions asap, and be realistic……

[@weathermayne61]

Hey! I’m in remarketing (REO asset manager) for a decently sized state chartered bank. We don’t originate many loans, we sit on cash crash to crash to buy up distressed debt. So I actually am a value add manager, unlike Bank of America/Wells Fargo, where they just push them to market. I have my realtors license too. I want to join the acquisition side of things, and work into an analyst role. But it seems unlikely at my age and back ground. (24, bachelors degree) I’d tell folks to definitely just be the best at whatever they want and the world will guide you. I had no idea what I wanted in life but now I do, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to obtain as life goes on, but I still get other alternatives for my ethic.

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Great advice, and I would also say it’s definitely not too late for you. Being 24 with a bachelors degree and with real estate experience puts you in a great spot to make a switch, and I’d still recommend going for it if acquisitions is where you want to be. Good luck!

[@muhammadgulma4628]

Thanks a lot man, this is gold. Although am still a student ( coming to the RE market in a few years), the video was quite educative, and now I know how to align my game plan when coming in.

[@realestateinvestors]

Justin, you talk a lot about starting at the biggest, best companies. But what about the smaller successful CRE investment firms? If I want to be a GP and operate multi family deals for example, wouldn’t being with a smaller firm that’s more similar to how I would operate as an investor myself be a better experience? Would love your take on this.

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Smaller companies can be great places to learn entrepreneurial skills, but I'd recommend making sure you're in a spot where you'll learn institutional best practices at these smaller shops. Many entrepreneurs start out at bigger PERE firms and then branch off on their own in their 30s and 40s, and those people tend to be great to work for to learn the business in a disciplined way, while also learning CRE entrepreneurship in the process. Great question!

[@Joshukend]

Wish I would've been watching these during my Senior year! Having applied to over 50 jobs in my area with 2 interviews that went nowhere, would you recommend I relax my focus on my long-term path and take any analyst position I can? When do gaps after graduation become concerning?

[@shahahsan1323]

Solid advice as always, Justin! Thank you for sharing. Would Orange County or San Diego be considered as "major markets"?

[@BreakIntoCRE]

OC is a huge hotbed for CRE firms, so even though it's a sleepier city, I would put it into the category of a semi-major market. SD has a much smaller real estate scene, and I would consider it a second-tier city for CRE training.

[@dheshpadiachey2041]

Amazing video Justin, great advice, just when I needed it! Thank you so much, I'm also going through your Break into CRE Academy training program, it's amazing! (Highly recommend it to anyone else thinking of subscribing to it!) 👊🏽

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Thanks, Dhesh! Glad to have you in the program!

[@marielarias550]

Hey Justin! Thank you for the content! Super helpful, as always. I had a quick question: Im in NYC, imy early 20s and transitioning to CRE. If I'm interested in Multifamily and the entrepreneurial route, do you think working for a major firm in Brokerage would be the best route or as an Investment Professional for a huge apartment owner (i.e. Greystar). And would you move to a smaller market based on property type? NYC, for example, isn't the best for multifamily acquisitions. Any thoughts would be great!

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Brokerage and/or private equity would work equally well to break into the multifamily space. I would also say there is a ton of opportunity in multifamily (and all CRE product types) in NYC, so I don’t think you’ll have to move outside of the metro to find an opportunity in the sector. Good luck!

[@JohnSmith-er3ei]

Amazing content. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Glad to hear you found the video helpful, John!

[@JohnSmith-er3ei]

Justin, curious what your opinions were on starting CRE part-time while working another job. I’m normally off around 3:00 and have some time to market before close of business. I start very early. Any advice you could give? I got my license, but then the pandemic hit and changed CRE’s dynamic tremendously, so I haven’t done too much yet besides shadowing my broker when I get the opportunity.

[@BreakIntoCRE]

It can’t hurt - most CRE firms will want someone full time if they can swing it, but if part-time is all you can commit to right now, some experience is better than none. Good luck!

[@troyho1671]

Hello, I am currently in residential, but looking to make the switch to comercial. What couse on you online program would you recommend I start with

[@BreakIntoCRE]

CRE Investing 101 and The Real Estate Financial Modeling Bootcamp would both be great courses to start with - see all Break Into CRE courses here: breakintocre.com/courses/

[@rachaelwilson3226]

Interviewing at CBRE this week! I just graduated last December and I started a new job working for a small commercial real estate community. Hoping this is my last interview and my first big step into CRE!

[@BreakIntoCRE]

Good luck, Rachael!

[@juelz713]

Good advice, but what about the people like me who started late, because we did not have opportunities