Job Description

I sometimes share my experience in capital markets with people. But, it often doesn't stick because not everyone knows what that entails. Nevertheless, I found joy in learning about real estate from the perspective of securing the money for a project. If capital markets mean something to you, then you're either a business major or a nerd. Personally, my experience was somewhat positive, allowing me to learn about a new market from actual deals. The key aspects of this job were:

 

·      The Deal Flow

·      The Work

·      The Projects

·      The Necessary Capabilities

 

Deal Flow

I was fortunate to work on mostly realistic deals as a student entering the professional space for the first time. Capital markets is a fancy term for raising money for projects, but here, it means raising money for a real estate project. As an intern, I reviewed prospective deals in the pipeline for consideration. Internships and jobs come with challenges, and in this position, the challenge was the subjective nature of reviewing incoming deals. Meaning, I had to back up my opinion. Working with a full-time worker helped me understand crucial criteria for real estate deals, but adapting guidelines to every deal was difficult, as each deal is inherently different. Very different.

 

The Work

Interns have to consider all contents of a deal. I reviewed deals that at times had full financial models while others were simple appraisals of the land without anything on it. Luckily, I worked closely with others in the office to ensure my work was in the ballpark of the correct answer. Interns have limited responsibilities. Sometimes this is good. Such as when I was working, I was not thinking about the aftermath of my work as much. This was all fine as long as my work ethic stayed nice and healthy when looking at those spreadsheets.

 

Projects

Most of the deals I worked on were about the sale of a property, but the market was slowing down. This means that deals slow down. I handled other tasks like updating client accounts, conducting market research, and random administrative projects. Which was not as fun. These projects required less skill than an actual deal, but I needed the same effort to produce quality work for a respectable company in the industry. These projects resembled academic projects, requiring detailed arguments and thoughtful research.

 

Necessary Capabilities

Despite being an internship, the job demanded quality, effort, and many hours looking at the market. Many hours. The commercial real estate market slowed down significantly in the last few months of my job, which ran from June to December. This was a summer internship that evolved into a fall internship. Besides the detail-oriented qualities of the position, I enjoyed working with people of good character and dealing with quality clients. Working with good people in the real estate industry is quite rare. The position required attention to detail, exceptional listening skills, and knowledge about the market. My minor in real estate thoroughly prepared me for this position.

 

Conclusion

Truthfully, I enjoyed this internship more than my study job at the gym. But, it doesn't mean I want to pursue a career in commercial real estate. I learned a lot about the office and numbers, leading me to pursue other career interests beyond real estate. It is like checking a box off the list for potential career paths and considering other businesses. Thus, leaving me in a more confused state than when I started the job. I kind of laugh sometimes because even though I learned much about this market, I had no golden moment. Most people have a golden moment when working a job that makes them get up and go to work every day. How can I be passionate to get up and staring at a computer for eight hours? I am still learning the answer to that question. It sure was a fun six months though. Also, I learned a lot so in the end, I do not regret the experience.

 

Stats:

- Reading Ease = 61

- Grade Level = 8.3

-Passive Sentences = 0%