How To Prepare For a Real Estate Interview [6 Steps]

The real estate interview process is extremely competitive, and anything you can do to give yourself an edge is worth paying attention to if you want to land a job.

And while your background obviously matters, how you prepare for each interview is also important, and this post walks through six things you can do leading up to an interview that will help you stand out from the competition.

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#1: Company Research

The first thing I want to mention here is really easy to do, and this is researching the company as deeply as you can.

And what I mean by this is taking the time to understand the company’s investment strategy, where they invest their capital, and any notable deals they’ve done recently that could help you guide the conversation.

A lot of firms will publish press releases when they acquire a new property, hire a new key team member, or raise a fund, all of which can be helpful things to know about during the interview process. And if the company is publicly traded, listening to earnings calls or reading through recent quarterly or annual reports can give you a lot of insights into the direction the company’s going, the challenges they’re facing, and how they see market conditions shifting in real time.

Most candidates only focus on themselves and spend the majority of an interview talking about their own skills and experiences, without ever relating those back to how the company operates. However, hiring managers want to bring people on board who are committed to joining the right team and show a genuine interest in what the company’s trying to accomplish.

#2: Market Conditions

The second thing I’d recommend when preparing for a commercial real estate interview is taking some time to research any general market conditions that would impact the company.

Interest rates will have a huge effect on the vast majority of commercial real estate investment, development, lending, and brokerage firms, so in almost all cases, you’ll want to spend some time researching these. This research should include where major benchmark interest rates are today, where these rates are in comparison to where they’ve been over the last 12-24 months, and where those rates are projected to go in the future.

CBRE’s Quarterly U.S. Capital Markets Figures reports are great resources to get up-to-date information on investment volume and loan originations, and CBRE’s semi-annual cap rate surveys can also give you a good sense of where pricing is headed in most major markets.

And beyond just general market information, it’s very likely that the company you’ll be interviewing with has a specific product type and geographic focus, so you’ll also want to get more detailed with your research in these areas. For example, if the company you’re interviewing with invests primarily in multifamily properties in Portland and Seattle, you’ll also want to take some time to understand where rent growth is headed in those markets, what vacancy and supply growth looks like in those markets, and any major employment changes that could have a noticeable impact on demand for apartment product.

Cushman & Wakefield’s MarketBeat reports are also great sources of information for market data on many US cities, but other firms like CBRE, Newmark, Colliers, and Avison Young all have great research departments that put out regular quarterly reports covering a variety of major metros.

With all of that said, I wouldn’t stress too much about memorizing all of this information, and it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll be expected to know exactly what’s happening in the industry when you’re interviewing for analyst or associate roles. However, this type of research can help guide how you answer certain questions, and this can also help you come up with your own questions to ask based on current market data.

#3: Come With Questions

This leads directly into the next thing worth doing when preparing for a real estate interview, and this is writing out a list of about 3-5 questions that you want to ask your new potential employer.

These could be market-related questions that are directly tied to the research you’ve done, or these could also be questions related to how the company operates internally, covering things that you wouldn’t be able to learn by just going to the company’s website.

Great questions to ask in real estate interviews might include:

• “What’s the typical internal career trajectory of someone who takes on this role?”
• “What kind of professional development opportunities does the company offer or sponsor?”
• “What does success look like a year from now for someone who steps into the job I’m applying for?”

There are a lot of job applicants out there who submit their resumes to a bunch of different open positions without giving much thought to the long-term impacts of taking each role, and employers know this. But by asking questions like these, you’re showing that you’re looking for a long-term fit, you’re trying to improve as a real estate professional, and you want to make sure your expectations are aligned with the company’s expectations from the start.

#4: Come With Examples of Relevant Skills

The next thing worth focusing on heading into this process is thinking through 3-5 examples of how you’ve already demonstrated the skills you’d need to succeed in the position.

Companies put together a job description based on exactly the type of candidate they’re looking for, and the more you can showcase that you have those skills or experiences, the more attractive a candidate you’re going to be.

For example, if the job description mentions that the company’s looking for someone to create investment memos to present to senior leadership, create financial models in Excel, or communicate with lenders to get deals financed, you ideally want to have a handful of stories you could turn to that demonstrate your presentation skills, your financial modeling abilities, or your experience working with lenders companies.

These stories also don’t have to be directly tied to experiences in real estate, so there’s no need to stress out if you haven’t worked in the industry before. However, regardless of your academic or professional background, the point here is that you want to come in being prepared to talk through your track record of success, doing as many of the things you’d be asked to do in the position as possible.

#5: Understand Core Real Estate Finance Metrics

The next thing to come prepared with (especially when interviewing for analyst and associate roles) is a general understanding of core commercial real estate finance metrics and how these figures are calculated.

In the vast majority of cases, commercial real estate firms won’t give candidates complex mental math questions during an in-person interview. However, when general technical questions do come up, they’re usually related to terms like the cap rate, IRR, equity multiple, debt yield, or debt service coverage ratio.

This means that you should at least have a basic understanding of what each of these metrics represents, and even if you aren’t asked any questions about these metrics before a formal Excel modeling exam, this can also help you more clearly understand the implications of changes to things like cap rates and interest rates on a real estate portfolio.

#6: Get There (Really) Early

The last thing I want to mention in this post seems very obvious, but can have a huge impact on your performance in an interview, and this is to get to the office earlier than you think you need to.

A lot of real estate firms are located in high-rise buildings in densely populated cities, which can make traffic (and parking) extremely unpredictable.

This means that even if Google Maps says it will take you 20 minutes to get to the office, that typically doesn’t include the 10 minutes you might have to spend looking for parking, or the 5 minutes you’ll have to spend walking from the parking garage to the office.

The last thing you want to do is feel stressed about time heading into an interview, and even if getting there early means that you end up sitting in the parking lot for an extra 20 minutes, having time to stop, look through your notes, and show up to the office about 10 minutes early can make a major difference in how you perform.

Give Yourself Every Advantage

If you want to make sure you’re ready for real estate interviews and you have the technical skills you’ll need to make it through an Excel modeling exam that might be given to you during the process, 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.