Career Advice: Construction Management vs. Real Estate Analyst

[Matt Sorrentino]

would love some insight from people on both sides of the fence. i am looking to make a career transition from the banking/trading world into real estate development. 

i think that it might be "easier" to attain a project/construction management gig and, in fact, had a role lined up at one of the bigger firms and passed on it. 

hoping some of you will be willing to provide some additional insight from both industries. what makes for a strong candidate in each specialty and what the opportunities are further down the line. 

a little more about me: 28 years old. b.s. business degree from small, private college. living in tri-state region. have always been quite interested in real estate, construction and architecture and trying to map out what i'd like to make of myself for the next 30+ years.

right now i am doing my best to learn basic real estate Excel modeling and Argus (as much as possible via YouTube tutorials).  considering paying for an Argus class to really get my feet wet with the program. 

thanks! i look forward to engaging with this community and learning all i can about the world of r.e.

[John Blackman]

Hi Matt, welcome to BP!

I'm going to stick to the rule that I use with just about anything new, whether it's a vendor, an investor, or new strategy I want to try.  Do one, learn, do two, learn some more, do four and by then you will have probably figured it out.  If the vendor, investor, or strategy doesn't work out, you've managed your risk and won't end up with a pile of projects with a partner that doesn't work.

Each market is different and comes with their own hurdles, but as a first step I would recommend partnering with an existing builder that has a good track record.  Act as an investor in a spec build and learn.  Someone else is doing everything you need to learn which will keep the project flowing as well as any construction project does.  You will discover what parts of the business you want to take over as you watch the project being done by the builder you team up with.

I chose not to be a developer specifically but instead to be a financing company that hires builders.  The primary reason for this is that you cannot scale yourself.  No matter how good you are, your capacity to manage projects is limited.  So if you want to go beyond what you can take on yourself, you're going to have to hire builders to manage projects for you.

That being said, I do think it's important to do a few more hands on so you can learn the pitfalls and budget considerations for a project.  Those skills will help you create successful project scopes and budgets with each successive project.

And a sense of shameless self promotion, Lifeonpire.com just posted an interview with me where I talk about the steps our company went through to get where @Bryan Hancock  and I are today.

http://www.lifeonpire.com/podcast/13