27 year old Looking to Transition Into Real Estate Development, Where Do I Start?
Hi everyone,
I just turned 27 and I’m looking for some honest career advice from people who work in real estate development, project management or adjacent fields.
I graduated with a finance degree and have spent the past four years working in the alternative finance/merchant cash advance industry. While I know the industry can have a mixed reputation, my role has been heavily focused on operations, portfolio management, client relationships, legal coordination, negotiations, and solving business problems rather than sales.
Over the past few years I’ve helped build operational processes, managed a team, worked directly with executive leadership, coordinated with attorneys on legal matters, handled high balance files (4-10 million) and been responsible for making decisions involving financial risk, restructures, collections, and client relationships.
I’ve developed strong communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, but I don’t have direct real estate experience.
I’ve realized that long term I’d much rather build a career in real estate development. I’m fascinated by how projects go from raw land or an existing building to a completed development, and I like the combination of finance, strategy, operations, and tangible results.
I live in the New York City area, so I’d ideally like to stay local.
My questions are:
What is the most realistic path into real estate development with my background?
Would you recommend starting with a developer, lender, acquisitions team, asset management, project management, or another role?
Are there any certifications, skills, or software I should learn to become a stronger candidate?
If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
I’m not expecting to walk into a senior position just because I have professional experience, but I also don’t want to throw away four years of transferable skills if they can be leveraged in the right way. Ideally I don’t want to take a huge pay cut.
I’d really appreciate any advice from people who’ve made a similar transition or who work in the industry.
Thanks!