Real Estate Finance provides the fuel that keeps the industry running
The real estate finance field is extremely diverse and complex. Employers range from pension funds, insurance companies, and private-equity firms to commercial banks, private banks, and credit unions. Job titles range from investment banker to mortgage bankers and brokers as well as underwriters. Real estate financing is not just for home loans and home equity lines of credit. Major commercial loan business involves refinancing old loans, originating new construction loans, permanent financing on leased projects, and issuance of mezzanine debt and acquisition loans. Typical job functions in the field involve consulting potential borrowers and originating loans, servicing existing loans by making sure payments are being made and taxes and insurance are paid, securitizing pools of loans to be sold in the secondary MBS and CMBS markets, and much more. Loan underwriters evaluate deals to determine loan amounts, creditworthiness of borrowers, and income potential of projects. Lenders often specialize by residential or commercial focus, and further by product type including single family residential, multi-family, retail, office, industrial, and more. Lenders may also specialize by loan amount.
Real Estate Financial Analyst/Associate
The start of an exciting career path...
The Analyst or Associate role in real estate is often a broad term that can refer to the starting position upon graduation from a graduate real estate or MBA program. While Analyst tends to refer more to a post-undergraduate level position, an Analyst or Associate is often embedded within a specific function of real estate, such as Development, Asset Management, Acquisitions, and the like. For example, a post-graduate position may be titled "Asset Management Associate," "Asset Management and Acquisitions Associate," or similar nomenclature. Graduate-level analysts and associates are expected to have a broad-based academic training that can be applied to the specific roles at hand. Some key competencies include financial analysis, investor and board communication, transactional activities, maintaining and analyzing financial models, maintaining ownership of monthly, quarterly, and annual deliverables, market research, underwriting deals, entitlement due-diligence, assisting portfolio management, and so forth. Such roles are often the start to a career path within a company or entry to other career paths in real estate.
| Role / Company | Location | Posted | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debt Capital Markets AnalystBrightSpire Capital, Inc. | New York, NY | May 30, 2023 | ||
| Investment Management AnalystBrightSpire Capital, Inc. | New York, NY | May 30, 2023 | ||
| Investment Management Associate Vice President / Vice PresidentBrightSpire Capital, Inc. | New York, NY | May 30, 2023 | ||
| Manager, External ReportingAffinius Capital | San Antonio, TX | May 26, 2023 | ||
| Associate - Fund OperationsRialto Capital | Miami, FL | May 24, 2023 | ||
| Real Estate Valuation DirectorML Realty Partners | Itasca, IL | May 24, 2023 | ||
| Corporate Finance Summer InternAffinius Capital | San Antonio, TX | May 23, 2023 | ||
| Real Estate Division Director (Real Estate Finance Manager DHCD)Fairfax County Government | Fairfax, VA | May 23, 2023 | ||
| Real Estate Equity AnalystCain International | New York, NY | May 22, 2023 | ||
| Multifamily AnalystRail Gauge Partners | Atlanta, GA | May 21, 2023 |
The Future of Real Estate Finance
The foundations of finance -- time value of money, income capitalization, discounted cash flow models -- and dexterity with the tools of analysis (financial modeling with spreadsheets) will always be a given in real estate finance. Future strategic advantage in real estate finance will accrue to those that stay abreast of capital market dynamics, including the changing sources of capital, regulatory impacts, and real estate's relative position within overall global financial markets. Investment vehicles are also in transition, whether it is a reconsideration of the traditional real estate private equity models or crowdfunding platforms, requiring that real estate finance adapt its analyses to fit investor preferences and practices.
