Commercial real estate internship
Irvine, CA · Member since 2015 · 24 posts · 1 vote
Hello everyone,
I was inquisitive to know if there is anyone in the Orange county area that is part of or knows of a commercial investment firm that is hiring unpaid interns.
Thanks for your time,
Brandt H.
Do you already have your real estate license?
And when you say investment firm, are you referring to the actual buyers company or were you looking for a brokerage internship?
We don't use interns but I could perhaps provide guidance if you were looking for a commercial brokerage internship.
Do you already have your real estate license?
And when you say investment firm, are you referring to the actual buyers company or were you looking for a brokerage internship?
We don't use interns but I could perhaps provide guidance if you were looking for a commercial brokerage internship.
@christophertelles I do not have my license yet but I'm planning to get it as soon as I turn 18. I am looking for a brokerage. Specifically, a brokerage that acquires distressed properties and turns them around for profit, or does buy and holds.
Do you already have your real estate license?
And when you say investment firm, are you referring to the actual buyers company or were you looking for a brokerage internship?
We don't use interns but I could perhaps provide guidance if you were looking for a commercial brokerage internship.
@christophertelles I do not have my license yet but I'm planning to get it as soon as I turn 18. I am looking for a brokerage. Specifically, a brokerage that acquires distressed properties and turns them around for profit, or does buy and holds.
Typically a brokerage doesn't take ownership positions rather they broker real estate transactions between sellers and buyers or landlords and tenants.
It sounds like you are perhaps looking to work for an investment company that acquires, and improves property. Those types of positions are few and far between, and when they are available investment companies in commercial real estate need the skill sets of someone who has an educational background in finance and or real estate e.g. a BA/BS/MBA in finance or a real estate concentration.
If you are otherwise looking to get into the brokerage business then I would suggest you get your real estate license and then look up local CRE companies and call their sales managers letting them know you're looking to move into the brokerage business as a salesperson.
Good luck!
@Christopher Telles Thanks for the insight! Would you happen to know how one finds commercial deals, other than using loopnet?
@Account Closed Funny you should mention that because that's what I've been doing. I called every single commercial firm in my area and all of them but one rejected me. However, the one that didn't reject me is still pending. They said I could work there but they are trying to make room for me, which might take a couple months. Who knows what will happen...
Brandt,
It seems like you've got great persistence. Keep going. The best opportunities always seem to come around right after you start thinking about quitting. So don't quit!
You need to figure out a way for that company to MAKE room for you. Work in the conference room, in the janitors closet, whatever. Do what it takes to make it happen.
Best of luck,
Bob
@Bob Mason thank you! I did tell them I'll do anything including just sweeping floors. They still said they need to make room for me though
i typed "commercial real estate investment company list" into google and got a list of over a hundred. that list also shows where they are out of. i went through and counted abt 25% of them are in new york city. so you are not even 18 wow! i thought i was young. i got into this business when i was 29. im working on expanding my buyers list so that is why i googled Commercial real estate investment companies. another idea is to google "real estate investment trusts"
@Felix Goldstein Okay, thanks! There are lots of firms out there, just not in my area. That's the problem.
@Brandt Heflin, have you tried this one? its called CBRE Global Investors they are out of LA. CBRE is a great worldwide brokerage firm as im sure you know, apparently they also invest themselves. take a look at that list. also the ones that are based out of NYC might have an office in the LA area. take a look at their websites. i've been calling those people and adding them to my list! :) those companies invest out of the country also! invesco is on there. prudential insurance is on there. another interesting one on there is the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). take a look at that list. you might want to try brokerage firms also. they all need a secratary to answer the phones. plus alot of brokers invest themselves. even though you are not licensed, they might still hire you to help out. you would just be limited on what you can do. NAI is a good brokerage firm.
@Felix Goldstein Woah! That's a lot of firms! Are they all commercial investment company's? By the way, thanks for all the info. I highly appreciate it!
yes all of them invest in commercial RE. some invest in houses also. blackstone group is another huuuuugeee publicly traded company. i don't think they are on that list. i happened to be watching CNBC and they happened to mention that blackstone group invests in commercial real estate. I thought OH GREAT! since we are both investors, maybe they want to buy properties from me, maybe they want to sell me some of their properties. they were open to buying properties from me. they asked me what i am selling. too bad their MINIMUM is many milllions of dollars. i'm waaaayyyyy tooooo small for them. unless they want to sell me properties. they invest in commercial real estate. they also owns TENS OF THOUSANDS of houses. they are publicly traded. you can read their earnings reports.
when i say i can find tens of millions of dollars, i'm not kidding. it all comes down to the price of the property. alot of those companies are telling me that their MINIMUM PRICE is 10 million, 20 million, 100 million. yeah no problem glad to give you advise. this seems like a great community for that. hope you find what you are looking for. on these companies sites you can read a biography of their people that do acquisitions. they have 4 year college degrees in real estate. are you planning on going to college. feel free to email, if you don't want to post this publicly.
@Brandt Heflin i would definately call Tishman Speyer (Tishman Speyer). They are on that google list. they have an office in LA. Take a look at their site it has a careers section at the very bottom. too bad there are no jobs in the Los Angeles office. but hey that doesn't seem like that would stop you. maybe they can MAKE a position for you. Why i'm specifically mentioning that one is because they OWN ROCKEFELLER CENTER. that just seems like a cool thing to own! also check out this thread http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/136925-real-estate-degree. you probably seen that already but here it is just incase you haven't seen that post.
... they have a person that does aquisitions (buys properties) for them and they have a person that does dispositions (sells properties) for them. since you want your job to be related to real estate, i would ask the person that answers the phone that you want to talk to the aquisitions guy/girl and dispositions guy/girl. you can actually find their names on the companies sites. along with their email address. so you can just send them an email. not sure if that is the best person for you to talk to but i would start with them. maybe there is someone better not sure.
@Brandt Heflin, take a look at this forum ==>
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/32/topics/189234-becoming-commercial-real-estate-agent-associate. i'm not sure that this is the route you want to go since it sounds like you don't want to get involved with the brokerage side, but i thought this might be helpful for you.
@Felix Goldstein Alright! I will do some research on those company's and check out the one on LA. Good stuff you wrote here. Thanks for all your time and help.
Really means a lot!
yeah no problem. glad to help. that is what BP seems to be all about. i couldn't sleep at night a few nights ago so i was just on here posting. i was reading your profile. it seems like you want to start your own commercial investment company. so why not start investing now in commercial real estate. what do you plan on going to college for? since commercial real estate takes FOOORRRREEEEEEVVVVVVVVVEEEERRRRRR, perhaps you can also dabble in residential real estate when you are just starting out.
i recently got a call from a broker about a property that i had under contract one and a half years ago. i wrote an offer got it accepted a year and a half ago. then i backed out after doing some serious number crunching. i had the right to cancel my contract so i did. i told them i can't buy at the price we agreed on. if htey agree to a price a lot less then what we agreed on, then i would buy. i was pretty new and didn't know what i we doing. so just recently this broker calls me and asks me if i'm still interested. they are asking too much so no wonder the property didn't sell. after being on the market listed with a great broker for years.
the cali commercial market is terrible to buy in now. i called on a few properties there recently. I'm staying away from buying in cali for now. there are properties that are selling for a cap rate of 4!! i told a broker there. why would i want to buy that ( i think it was a NNN Family Dollar property) over there when i can buy the exact same Family dollar box in another part of the country and pay a cap of 8. that is two times less expensive.
i told a broker there. why would i want to buy that ( i think it was a NNN Family Dollar property) over there when i can buy the exact same Family dollar box in another part of the country and pay a cap of 8. that is two times less expensive.
If you cannot answer that question then you should not be investing in commercial properties,
@Account Closed, huh? i can answer the question. when she offered me a NNN property for a cap rate of 4. i said "why would i want to buy that in cali, when i can go to detroit and but the same exact family dollar property and pay a cap of 8-9." another words, i said no to buying that cali property becuase its too expensive at a cap of 4. maybe we are not understanding each other.
@Account Closed, huh? i can answer the question. when she offered me a NNN property for a cap rate of 4. i said "why would i want to buy that in cali, when i can go to detroit and but the same exact family dollar property and pay a cap of 8-9." another words, i said no to buying that cali property becuase its too expensive at a cap of 4. maybe we are not understanding each other.
No, you don't understand cap rates. It is a measure of risk not profit. A $50,000 NOI at a cap rate of 4% will fetch a purchase price of $1,250,000. The same Detroit NOI of $50,000 at 8% is ONLY worth $625,000. Obviously the 4% cap is more desirable. Why?
@Felix Goldstein The Cali market for commercial properties doesn't seem terrible. I found a property that seemed to be a promising investment a couple days ago in riverside. 6,000 sq.ft building for $799,000. It was a foreclosure so one could get it even cheaper.
@Account Closed i would respectuflly disagree. i don't mind discussing i'm not looking to get into an arguement. how much a property is worth is an opinion. one person might come along and is willing to pay X amount but you can get another person that is willing to pay Y for the same property. there are average market prices of course so if on average say apts go for 40k/unit in some area, well then if someone is wondering how much there property is worth, they can multiply the number of units in their property by 40k and come up with a number. so they are more then likely to get that amount for their property. lets take your detroit and cali examples. first of all, the purchase prices are teh prices that you are paying. we are assuming these would be properties that you are buying at that price. do you agree with me on that? as far as your last question "Why?" well you lost me on that one. explain why you think the calli property is more desirable. as far as i'm concerned i would rather pay 625k to make 50k/yr then paying 1.25 million to make the same 50k. now there might be other factors involved but all else being equal the detroit property seems like a way better deal to me.
why do you think the riverside property is a good investment? so far i don't have enough info to tell you if its a good investment or not.
@Account Closed i would respectuflly disagree. i don't mind discussing i'm not looking to get into an arguement. how much a property is worth is an opinion. one person might come along and is willing to pay X amount but you can get another person that is willing to pay Y for the same property. there are average market prices of course so if on average say apts go for 40k/unit in some area, well then if someone is wondering how much there property is worth, they can multiply the number of units in their property by 40k and come up with a number. so they are more then likely to get that amount for their property. lets take your detroit and cali examples. first of all, the purchase prices are teh prices that you are paying. we are assuming these would be properties that you are buying at that price. do you agree with me on that? as far as your last question "Why?" well you lost me on that one. explain why you think the calli property is more desirable. as far as i'm concerned i would rather pay 625k to make 50k/yr then paying 1.25 million to make the same 50k. now there might be other factors involved but all else being equal the detroit property seems like a way better deal to me.
@Felix Goldstein I am also not trying to argue but to teach. I used the cap rates you provided. You are making the mistake that you think paying $625,000 is guaranteeing you $50,000 a year. The "WHY?" is why would a sophisticated investor buyer pay $1.25 million for a $50K chance in one market but only $625,000 in another. Consider that this is the SAME investor that has $1.875 to invest.
The Cali $50,000 NOI is more desirable because the market is willing to pay $1,250,000. The Detroit property is less desirable because the market is only willing to pay $625,000 for th exact amount of NOI $50,000.
@Felix Goldstein Well I'm no professional when it comes to analyzing commercial property(that's why I need an internship haha). However, the exterior seems to be in good shape, it looks like there's good flow of traffic, and the interior looks generally nice, besides having to replace the tile flooring. It's also 2 story.