Quick Questions with a VP of Real Estate Acquisitions (Japan)
Our guest today is a bilingual Acquisitions VP based in Japan who has 10 years’ investment experience gained from both Japanese and Global Real Estate investment platforms, with strong experience in Core investment strategies:
What website or resource do you find the most useful for keeping up to date with your industry?
Nikkei Fudosan Market - https://nfm.nikkeibp.co.jp/
CBRE BZ Kukan - https://www.cbre-propertysearch.jp/bz/about_bz/
PERE - https://www.perenews.com/
Estie pro - https://leasing.estiepro.jp/
Do you have any physical item or gadget that you find essential to your work?
Backpack is a must have and is completely acceptable if not too casual, i find it useful when touring properties and sites. Also Asics Runwalk shoes are another good product for traveling and property touring.
What has been your most impactful resource to learn since graduating your bachelors?
Two books that have been valuable are:
Peter Linneman “Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/735955.Real_Estate_Finance_Investments
不動産投資市場の研究―1992年から2011年の市場変遷と投資行動の二十年史 - https://amzn.to/3hSeqk4
Also some CRE-focused online modelling courses (BIWS etc.) were generally helpful when I was at the entry level. https://breakingintowallstreet.com/real-estate-modeling/
How do you organise and track the tasks you need to achieve during the day and week?
Break down a big chunky task into smaller pieces, and have a clear timeline for each of those.
For example, when I need to build up the first cut underwriting, I would usually break down the task as below.
Rent roll input and reconciliation with PM report (60 mins)
Other property info input (30 mins)
Update and adjust various calculation modules, including rental growth, property tax schedule, capex assumptions etc. (120 mins)
Analyse historical rent levels and supply-demand dynamics of the submarket to mould a view on rental growth assumptions (120 mins)
Summarize questions to the seller/intermediary (60 mins)
Add scenario analysis (60 mins)
Run sensitivity (30 mins)
Summarize UW in a discussion paper (60 mins)
What three specific technical or soft skills do you think are the most important to a successful career in Real Estate:
Professional integrity and genuine interest in CRE
Interpersonal skills backed by deep understanding of the local market (= where the money is deployed to) as well as your organization’s ultimate decision makers (= where the money comes from)
Numerical skills – Basic understanding of finance, accounting and tax + institutional grade modelling skills
Why were you interested in joining Real Estate?
Honestly I don’t even remember, but what I can say is that real estate transaction is dynamic, exciting and intellectually stimulating.
What would be 1 piece of career advice would you give to a new analyst joining Real Estate Investment Industry in 2022?
At the end of the day, it’s a people business, so always be nice to people.
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