Insights from a Recent Graduate

Ethan Khali is a commercial acquisitions analyst (focusing on office, industrial, and retail) at CBRE Global Investors. Ethan is a recent graduate of the Trojan Family and has been working for his company for about a year. His role consists of underwriting deals and making sure the numbers are accurate and correct. A strong knowledge on the metrics of deals is essential. A big component of his job is continuously reviewing the Argus models that brokers send him so that he can fix them to the company standard. He also puts together the screening summaries, also known as the deal summaries, for properties they are actively pursuing. In addition, he is also responsible for putting together lease comps, sales comps, and a competitive set.

The advice he has for students interested in the real estate industry is to get as many hands on experiences as possible: internships, mentorship programs, site tours, or networking within the industry. Ethan took advantage of many different resources both on and off campus as a student. According to him, the Trojan Family has a strong network system and alumni would love nothing more than to help current Trojans with whatever challenges that are enduring. Sending messages through LinkedIn are usually the best way to reach out to alum that are working in your career of interest. 

There is a wide variety of other ways of meeting people. Ethan expressed that TREA panels are helpful. Ethan actually got his job from attending industry night and networked his way to working for a great investment company located in Downtown Los Angeles. His last bit of advice was to create relationships with your classmates—you never know when you might need one another while working in the industry. 
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