A real estate job in ______ field will help me most.

[Chad Miles]

It's that time for me to leave my current job in IT for a huge company and pursue my passion: real estate. While working on my investing company on the side, I want to gain relevant experience in the industry through a real estate related job. 

My company is currently pursuing investment in multi-family apartment buildings and I know that I have a lot to learn. So what is a better way to learn that experience it directly through work experience? The question is this: what real estate related job should I pursue in the mean time? 

That is where I turn to the BP community. Here are some of the things I am looking for in a job: 

1. MONEY. The whole point to have a job right now is to gain experience and also to gain capital for my investments. I am looking for a job that can pay some decent money so I can continue to save.

2. Control over that money. Preferably, I would love a situation where I can directly control my income through bonuses or commission pay. I am willing to work many hours and will work harder than most, but I want to be rewarded for that time/effort. 

3. Flexibility. The more flexibility I can have in a day job the more I can pursue building my investing business on the side. 

4. Networking. The whole purpose of finding this job is that I can learn and also grow my network so that when the time comes, I am ready to go into my own business full time and will have plenty of contacts that I can utilize going forward. 

5. As complete of learning as possible. This means that I am looking for something that can teach as much as possible about all aspects of the buying, selling and management of multi family apartment investing. 

Based on these things, what kind of job would you recommend that might check at least some/all of these boxes? I am looking to those with experience in these specific fields to shed some light on how it has helped them in their own businesses, or, if you could go back, what field would you choose to work in to gain experience? 

I am from Michigan in the metro Detroit area so maybe you even work in that area too! 

Thanks for your time and input in advance, 

Chad

[Parker Ihrie]

If you get a salesperson license, which would line up with your requirements, try to work with a broker who also does property management.  You could then gain experience with the transaction aspect and the management aspect.  Commercial lending is a good idea, too.  I would look into becoming a mortgage broker or finding a "conduit" lender to work for, like Bernard or Ladder.  However, if you work for a lender like that you would probably get sucked into underwriting in the beginning, which is not glamorous and may pigeonhole you.  Another good option would be to find out who the major multifamily players are in the area and apply for a job with them doing pretty much anything and then work your way up.