4 Real Estate Career Mistakes To Avoid (& What To Do Instead)

We talk a lot on the Break Into CRE YouTube channel and this blog about what to do in the beginning of your real estate career, but in this post, I want to zoom in on some things that can really derail your growth in this industry when you’re just getting started.

These are the things that I’ve personally seen have the most detrimental effects on young professionals in commercial real estate, and some things that (if you avoid) can help you make significantly faster progress in your career overall.

So in this post, we’ll talk through four things you do not want to do when you’re just starting out in commercial real estate, and what to do instead.

Watch the Full Video Here:

Mistake #1: Not Asking Questions When You Don’t Understand Something

Even though you can find a lot of information online today, and you might think you’ll look stupid if you ask a question, you need to ask that question anyway. If you don’t end up getting clarity on something you’re confused about, there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll end up making a mistake that’s significantly more damaging to your reputation, and asking the question in the first place would have made you better off.

What Employers Actually Expect

When you first start in an analyst role, especially in the first 2-3 months on the job, the expectation is that you won’t know everything that’s being asked of you. And in the vast majority of cases, employers are going to want you to speak up and tell them when something’s not clear.

Managers would much rather make sure you fully understand an assignment or project before getting started to make sure they’re getting what they’re asking for, rather than having you just guess or make an assumption that might cause them to have to redo your work.

The last thing you want to do is pretend you understand something, only to make a really big mistake later on. Especially if your questions are company-related (around things like how the firm generates revenue, the different parts of the industry the company’s involved in, or any other unfamiliar terms you’re hearing over and over again), these are all very appropriate questions for your first few months in a new role.

Mistake #2: Taking a Job That’s Not the Right Fit Just to Get Your Foot in the Door

I absolutely understand the desire to start your career as quickly as possible. However, with the expectation that you’ll spend at least about 18-24 months in a job at most firms, if you jump into something that you know isn’t going to work just for the sake of getting started, you’re most likely going to end up creating more issues for yourself long term.

The Reality of Bad Job Choices

We’ve had a lot of people join Break Into CRE Academy over the years who have been in jobs for just 3 to 6 months that they feel like they absolutely need to get out of as soon as possible. And when you’re in that kind of situation, this usually doesn’t turn out well, regardless of what you choose to do next.

If you decide to look for a different role after just three to four months, a new potential employer is going to question why you’re moving on so quickly, and you’re very likely going to burn bridges permanently with the company you’re leaving after such a short period of time.

And if you choose to stick it out for a full two years, that’s a really long time to be unhappy, and you’re ultimately wasting very valuable time early in your career when you’re able and willing to put in long hours towards something worthwhile.

Downstream Effects

Being in a job that you don’t like can also make you desperate when looking for new job opportunities, which often leads people to say yes to roles that are just slightly more tolerable than their current job. This can also take away a lot of a candidate’s negotiating leverage when trying to maximize pay.

The bottom line is to be intentional about the jobs you choose to take. While no job is perfect, and there are going to be aspects of work you don’t like in any role you take on, you do want to make sure that any opportunity you say yes to can somehow bring you closer to where you ultimately want to go.

Mistake #3: Staying in a Job for Too Long Just Because It’s Comfortable

If you want to maximize your income in the first 7-10 years of your career, switching companies every 2-3 years can often allow you to make significantly more money than you would have if you just stayed put at the same company you started out with. Working for a few different shops early on can also help you get clarity on what you actually want to focus on in your 30s and your 40s.

This is especially true for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to go out on their own. In many cases, the longer you wait to do this, the less likely it becomes that you’ll actually take the leap.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with industry professionals in their 50s and 60s who told me they had always wanted to start their own company, but life got in the way. At a certain point, kids and family responsibilities made going out on their own a lot more difficult.

When It Makes Sense to Stay

This doesn’t mean that you absolutely need to switch jobs every 2-3 years if you’re happy where you are, you work with people you like, and you see a lot of internal career growth potential ahead of you. However, if you’re in a job where the learning curve has flattened out, your pay has plateaued, and there’s not a clear growth path for you within the company itself, it most likely makes sense to look for something new.

Mistake #4: Doing Only What’s in Your Job Description

As an analyst in commercial real estate, your main job is usually going to be related to analyzing real estate investments. But the people I’ve seen make the biggest strides in their careers at a very young age have taken this a step further, and they’ve actually taken the time to analyze the company they’re working for to identify opportunities.

From there, these people then took the initiative to propose a new project or a new workflow to take advantage of those opportunities, and then took the reins themselves to make these things happen.

This could include things like:

• Introducing new ways for your firm to raise capital
• Sourcing deals on your own in a new market
• Building out models or introducing new software to streamline operations and improve underwriting speed

One of the things I didn’t realize when I was first starting out is just how different people’s career trajectories tend to look within this industry. Having been involved in commercial real estate for over a decade now, I can tell you that the people I started out with are all in very different places based on the actions they’ve each taken.

The Bottom Line

To sum this all up, when you’re new to the industry:

• Make sure you’re asking questions when something isn’t clear
• Make sure you’re being intentional about the jobs you choose to take
• Make sure you’re moving companies early on to maximize your earning potential
• Make sure you aren’t only doing what’s included in your job description

If you can do these things, even if they seem hard or scary in your 20s, you’ll set yourself up in your 30s and 40s to make a lot more money than your peers in a career path you actually enjoy.

Get Started on the Right Foot

If you want to make sure you have the skills you’ll need to take the first step and land an analyst or associate role at a top commercial real estate firm, make sure to check out our all-in-one membership training platform, Break Into CRE Academy.

A membership to the Academy will give you instant access to over 120 hours of video training on real estate financial modeling and analysis, you’ll get access to hundreds of practice Excel interview exam questions, sample acquisition case studies, and you’ll also get access to the Break Into CRE Analyst Certification Exam, which covers topics like real estate pro forma and development modeling, commercial real estate lease modeling, equity waterfall modeling, and many other real estate financial analysis concepts that will help you prove to employers that you have what it takes to tackle the responsibilities of an analyst or associate at a top real estate firm.