Real Estate: The Overlooked Career

GO Magazine
July 5, 2006
Stan Ross, Chairman of the Board, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
James Carberry, Principal, Carberry Communications

If you’re not aware of real estate, you’re not living on Earth.

Real estate may be the most visible industry on the planet. Its products—homes, apartments, offices, shopping centers, and hotels—are hard to miss.

But as a career choice, real estate has a low profile compared with law, medicine, or computer technology. Many people are not aware of all the opportunities in real estate.

For those in the know, real estate can offer an exciting, challenging, rewarding and potentially lucrative career. Here’s a snapshot:

Why real estate? People choose real estate careers for many reasons. But the number one reason is that they have a passion about developing or owning a physical asset, one that they can see and touch. Or smell. Some real estate people swear that a new building has a certain smell, like a new car smell. Fragrance la real estate.

How do people get into real estate? They arrive from many places. People have gone into real estate right out of school, or from other professions such as teaching, computer technology, or government.

What are the opportunities? There are many. Work for a real estate developer or owner, or a homebuilder; the lenders and investors who provide the capital to finance real estate; or for businesses that provide real estate services. These include architects, brokers, construction contractors, property managers or law or accounting firms specializing in real estate. Work for a large, public real estate company or a small, entrepreneurial organization; for a company that develops a single product like office buildings or multiple products such as office, retail and industrial; for a company that operates in a single geographic market like Southern California or all over the world; or for a company that specializes, for example, in converting historic office buildings to new uses such as apartments. Join the real estate department of a large corporation. Or become an entrepreneur. (Some people start their own business right out of school, but more often they first work for another company.) Real estate also offers many part time job opportunities in such areas as sales, brokerage, and leasing.

How do people learn about the opportunities in real estate? Talk with brokers, developers, property owners and others who can provide valuable insights into the industry, how it works, and where the opportunities are. Attend meetings of professional organizations such as the Urban Land Institute. Take a real estate course at a local college. Read books on real estate careers such as one we wrote, “The Inside Track to Careers in Real Estate,” recently published by the Urban Land Institute. Read real estate industry trade publications such as Commercial Property News. Check out online real estate news sites such as Globe Street (globest.com).

What does it take to succeed in real estate? Real estate requires many of the same core skills as other professions. These include analytical ability, communication skills, financial skills, interpersonal skills, and leadership ability. Real estate also requires a high level of proficiency in certain areas, for example, a strong background in finance is essential for many real estate jobs. But what differentiates the really successful people in real estate from those who are merely competent are the intangibles: drive, integrity, focus, adaptability, resourcefulness, and, most important of all, enthusiasm—a genuine passion for real estate.

What education is required for a career in real estate? Increasingly, jobs in real estate require not only an undergraduate but also a graduate degree. A number of colleges and universities in the U.S. offer real estate courses. Some schools offer undergraduate degrees in business administration, finance or other disciplines with an emphasis on real estate. Only a few schools offer undergraduate degrees in real estate. A growing number of schools are offering graduate degrees in real estate, or dual degrees such as business and real estate. Students in graduate programs include professionals who are making a mid-career change into real estate. Information about educational opportunities can be found in publications such as the “Commercial Real Estate Education and Resource Guide,” published by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (naiop.org), or the “Directory of Real Estate Development and Related Educational Programs,” published by the Urban Land Institute (uli.org).

How do people get started in real estate? There are a variety of entry level jobs available. You could work as an analyst with a development company, providing support to other professionals, such as doing computer runs and conducting various types of financial analysis. Or work as a laborer on a construction site, which would give you a first-hand education in the construction process. Or start as an assistant loan officer with a bank or other financial institution, where you would get a perspective on how to analyze and evaluate loans. Or work as an analyst for a homebuilding company, helping senior managers to decide on potential land acquisitions and estimate building costs. Or as an apprentice in a brokerage firm. To learn more about starting jobs in real estate, check out the real estate sections of online job sites such as hotjobs.com or specialist real estate sites such as selectleaders.com.

Is real estate for you? To answer that question, research careers that interest you, including real estate. Do a realistic self-appraisal of your talents and skills, and see how they match up with the skills required in real estate. Think about why you might want to go into real estate, and what your career path might be. Finally, decide if you are truly passionate about a career in real estate. If you are, you could have an exciting and rewarding career in real estate, a dynamic, challenging and fascinating industry.