Whats your background?

Question

What skill sets or background knowledge did you have before closing your first deal? What skill sets or training did you acquire along the way?

I am very curious to understand what it takes both professionally and within yourself to be successful in commercial real estate investing. I am a young woman who wants to be a leader in the industry someday. I want to go back to school and get my masters in an area that will elevate my company and help establish myself in the investing industry ( I do not want to be an agent I want to be an investor). Still deciding on which path to follow, any suggestions or recommendations?

Ellie Perlman · Answer

Hi Kanica,

I started as a commercial real estate lawyer in Israel, then switched to property management. After 4 years in that role, I moved from Israel to Boston (got my MBA degree at MIT) and started investing in real estate. I skipped single family/duplexes/quads, etc and went straight to multifamily apartments.

I didn't study to become an agent, which is not really necessary in this business. I do, however, use my legal and business education to scale my investment company. I think that investing in real estate or learning from someone who has been doing it for a while is the best way to go, and college/grad school are not extremely important here (and I've collected 3 degrees so can say that in confidence).  However, it is crucial to educate yourself about REI. You can do it by finding a mentor or partnering up with an experienced investor.

Good luck!

Alina Trigub · Answer

Account Closed

While traditional education may not necessarily be a must for entering into commercial real estate arena, it is certainly helpful to have as a part of your background as it adds to your credibility and allows to expedite the learning curve. As someone who is former tax accountant with extensive business and program management background, I assure you that there are a ton of transferable skills and educational components that I picked up from my MBA and previous experience for my current role as a syndicator.

In your case, while a degree may not be absolutely critical entering a commercial real estate field as a broker and obtaining a CCIM designation can boost up your credibility and escalate your learning curve significantly. So perhaps look into that.

Best!

Jeff Kehl · Answer

Account Closed I would second the sentiment that more traditional education will probably not help you with CRE unless it's through connections you make with the instructor or other students.

I have an undergrad in Finance and had one class in real estate which was plenty of formal education for me. You can learn way more these days by listening to podcasts where they interview successful professionals in the areas you are interested in. Or by just attending networking events and talking directly with people.

And better yet pick your spot you are interested in and go to work and learn from them directly.

Having said that, I think if you're set on higher education, I think economics, accounting, marketing are all good areas to study.

And to add an oddball suggestion, study anything in Information Technology. After my finance degree I spent 30 years doing IT. And at this point IT is the future of virtually every company out there.

Alex Rand · Answer

I was a business owner who purchased a Coop for my business in Manhattan. I ran the business out of that location for a number of years and the property appreciated significantly. The real estate became more valuable than the business, so I looked into moving the business and leasing the property. I hired a good commercial real estate lawyer who worked closely with me and I learned a lot from him. While working with him, I also read a terrific book on the subject that gave me some good insight into the business: Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur by James Randel. In that book, on the first page of chapter 13, Randel (who started out as an attorney) wrote: "What's more, in hindsight, I believe there is perhaps no better entry into the real estate game than real estate brokerage." Best of luck to you.

Nick Rutkowski · Answer

@Kanica Gooden

The skills that helped me so far for REI are: analyzing properties, clear communication, raising capital, deal structuring, and being a generous human.

Account Closed · Answer

Thank you for sharing everyone!

Bob Langworthy · Answer

I'm the son of a builder that worked with my dad during the summers. I went on to be a geology major that started an unrelated small business: a commercial greenhouse. I decided I wanted regular pay, hours, and benefits, so I went to work for a company doing internal accounting while working on an MBA. I got tired of having to deal with other people's mistakes (I can make my own, thank you very much!) and decided to be self-employed again. That's when I started an accounting practice with 0 experience or clients. After renting space for 8 years, I bought an office building and the rest is history!

Whats your background?

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