What experience is needed to start a REI Co. Do I change jobs?

[Julius Lewiel]

Hi,

I am new to real estate investing but find the concept very interesting and would like to start a real estate investment company. I am a CPA working as an auditor for investment companies in the Securities and Futures industry. I learn a lot about laws, regulations, and how investment companies operate but overall don't feel the job is giving me the hands-on experience I seek to one day start my own company. So, I don't really mind changing jobs.

One thought was to become a CPA in the real estate industry. But my question is would this be a beneficial move or should I focus on getting a job at a real estate investment company? Or am I fine with my current role? If I should get a job at a real estate investment company, what roles should I be looking for? Is a brokerage company just as good?

Also, working with investment companies, what I generally see is the investment company collecting funds from clients and trading the clients money. The investment company then gets management fees and performance fees as income. What exactly is an investment company in the real estate world? It seems a lot of people are talking about starting a real estate investment company by buying their own properties and renting or flipping them. (I guess it would make sense to buy your own and show the returns you made to your clients to entice them to invest with you). My thought was to start a company that pools customers money together to buy properties and they make money off the returns from a sale or rental income. I make money from fees.

Finally, how exactly does one start an investing company? I am not talking about what books to read, what legal structure to use, or selecting a market. This goes back to my previous questions. What experience do you need? How do you even get someone to invest/partner with you as a person with no real estate background? In my current role, I see that all the good investment companies have people who had years of experience with Goldman Sachs or some other large financial institution, and they're client base primarily stems from relationships built in their previous jobs. Plus they generally have a ton of money to begin with.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.