Broker and or Investor : Industrial/Office vs. Multifamily

[Josh Reed]

My goal of becoming a broker is two fold:  1) Build a career with high earning potential   2) Use that income paired with the knowledge I would gain to invest. 

I understand  commercial brokers are not always allowed to invest within the markets they work.  My question is this. 

If you were to spend the next 10 years of your life sacrificing lots in order to gain knowledge of particular industry (Industrial or Multifamily) which would you rather know when all is said and done and you were to try and retire with this knowledge. 

Industrial or Multifamily 

Which would allow a higher earning potential as a broker?  For example:

If you could not invest in the field you were brokering, which situation would you choose

Broker of Multifamily and Investor in Industrial

Broker of Industrial and Investor of Multifamily 

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts and insights.

Thanks. 

[David Conroy]

@Josh Reed Sorry about the typos in my original message, I was typing it on my phone. I think it depends on the opportunity in your market. Oregon may have better opportunities in industrial vs. multifamily. Speaking from what I know (which is Chicago) if you develop yourself into the top guy in the market you can make about similar amounts of money. I have guessing if you're around Portland the multifamily market is probably more robust there than the industrial market. Portland would probably be considered a tertiary industrial market meaning there's not the type of deal velocity as an Atlanta or Dallas or Phoenix or Seattle. From a broker perspective deal velocity is important to making money since you only make money when people move spaces or sell buildings. 

What I can tell you is I am buying some multi family and single family homes in Chicago, but the industrial market is so strong here there are absolutely no regrets in going into industrial vs. multifamily (and I looked at both). The one thing I like about starting in industrial is it's a lot bigger learning curve learning the underwriting to leasing deals and the pool of brokers are smaller and harder to break into. You'd probably have an easier time doing both multifamily and industrial as an industrial broker. Whereas if you were doing strictly investment sales of multifamily it might be difficult to break into industrial brokers communities later on to dig up deals.