Best Jobs to Prepare for a Career in Real Estate Investing

[Rich V.]

Hey BP Team - 

I'm super curious as to what the community thinks are the best jobs to help prepare for a career in Real Estate Investing. While shadowing and doing small tasks for a mentor/experienced investor is invaluable experience, it won't pay my NYC rent :) Eager to hear the community's input on careers with skills that translate well to personal REI.

I'm a CPA in NY and recently left my job as an Audit Associate at Ernst & Young.

Some positions I've been considering:

Real Estate Analyst
Real Estate Accountant

My concern is that most of these jobs are at PE Funds that are so large, I'm afraid the skills won't translate to personal buy & hold investing.

Eager to hear from you all!

[Thomas Hickey]

Not that I would recommend it but I was a leasing agent for a large REIT for 2 years before investing. Certainly taught me the property management aspect of the business. Not much translated into my small buy and hold business.

I agree with you that a lot of the best ways into RE investing are unpaid/ straight commission, so coming from a w2 job that is not going to sound realistic for most. Long story short still looking for the answer also!