The full range of tasks related to real estate purchase and sale transactions are facilitated by real estate brokers. Preparing properties for sale, taking property photos, analyzing market and competitive data, implementing pricing and marketing strategies, coordinating with title companies and lenders, and assisting clients with contract negotiations and closing are typical work duties. Excellent interpersonal, networking, and communication skills are required for this position, and real estate market knowledge is highly recommended.
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Why Commercial Real Estate Cover Letters Matter
It’s simple for your resume to disappear into a black hole when you apply for jobs in commercial real estate, and you may never hear back from the job poster again.
Additionally, the initial resume screening process is more competitive than it was ten years ago due to the commercial real estate industry’s institutionalization, making it much simpler for your resume to fall into that abyss of silence.
However, despite the fact that job seekers for commercial real estate send out dozens of applications each week, one tool that can help you avoid that black hole is the cover letter.
Even though your resume can do a great job of highlighting your experience and skill sets, a cover letter gives the hiring manager the chance to learn more about you personally and professionally (even before the interview stage) by allowing you to clearly explain why you’re the best fit for the position.
Having said that, writing a cover letter isn’t always simple, and it can be challenging to decide exactly what to include in the three to four paragraphs that are supposed to tell your story.
In order to simplify the process, this article will go over the three key components of any commercial real estate cover letter and explain how they might apply to your individual circumstances.
Commercial Real Estate Cover Letters Should Be Concise
I want to emphasize that a commercial real estate cover letter should be succinct, to-the-point, and concise before we move on to the first item on this list. Just a few paragraphs will do, and anything longer than a page is typically a sign that your cover letter may be a little bit too long (and may lose the reader’s attention as a result)
When writing your commercial real estate cover letter, treat each word as if it were worth $100 and eliminate any words that aren’t absolutely necessary to convey your message.
If you can pull this off, your cover letter can be a very effective tool for catching the attention of a hiring manager or recruiter and for helping you stand out from other candidates in a crowded job market.
Commercial Real Estate Cover Letters Should Clearly State Why You’re Interested in the Role
The first recommendation on this list is to begin your cover letter for a position in commercial real estate by explaining why this position interests you more than other available positions.
Interviewing job candidates takes a lot of time for commercial real estate companies, and it’s not unusual for online job postings to receive several hundred applications for a single open position.
This means that hiring managers and recruiters must establish some basic “filters” to quickly screen candidates and to ensure they have the time and bandwidth to review all resumes submitted for the position.
One of the most common selection criteria used by employers is whether a candidate demonstrates a genuine interest in the organization and the position for which they are applying, especially for businesses that invest a lot of time and money in training new hires.
In other words, if you’re applying for an asset management position at a small, start-up business that buys and manages office buildings, this is your chance to discuss your career interests in office asset management and your desire to work for a growing, entrepreneurial company.
And you might think about opening this on your cover letter for this position with something like:
“Thank you for giving me the chance to apply for the position of Asset Management Associate at your company. This opportunity is very exciting to me because I have office asset management experience working for large, institutional companies and because I want to help a small, entrepreneurial real estate investment firm grow. ”.
You will have a much easier time getting past this initial screening process if you can demonstrate that you’re serious about the position and aren’t just sending out a ton of generic resumes and cover letters to any company that is even remotely connected to a place you’d want to work.
Intent Matters More Than You Think
Although it may seem like a very small matter, I can assure you that it is important.
And despite how important this is, many people simply don’t take this step in the process seriously enough.
I’ve looked over a number of cover letters when hiring for positions where the applicant mentioned another company when referring to our company, obviating any effort or thought on their part to apply for the position.
I’ve also read cover letters from candidates who discussed their career goals for positions that had nothing to do with our company or even the real estate sector at all.
Although it seems very basic and straightforward, just adding one or two sentences reiterating that your career interests are compatible with the position can go a very long way.
What If You’re Not Sure What You Want To Do Long-Term Yet?
At this point, you might be thinking, “What if I’m not sure this is where I want to take my career in the long run?”
It makes sense that you might not have 100% certainty on where you want to be 30 years from now, especially if you’re just graduating from college or a few years out of school
And with that said, you should demonstrate a strong interest in the career path you’re currently looking to pursue within the company (especially for analyst and associate roles), but not necessarily an in-depth explanation of how you plan to lock yourself into this particular career path forever.
Just make sure you’re on paper specific about the job function you want to perform at this time, that you’re enthusiastic about the organization you’ll be working for, and that you can see yourself progressing there in the future.
Even if that doesn’t happen, if you can show this in your cover letter, it will make the employer’s time and money spent on hiring, training, and interviewing you much more “worth it” than if it appeared that you weren’t committed to the process and were uncertain of where you wanted to go in the next three to five years.
Commercial Real Estate Cover Letters Should Make It Clear Why You’re The Perfect Fit For The Role
The following paragraph in your commercial real estate cover letter is your chance to discuss your skill sets, experiences, and accomplishments that have specifically prepared you for the role you’re looking to take on after you’ve discussed why the position interests you.
You have the chance to demonstrate to the employer that you would fit the description of a “No Risk Hire,” even if you haven’t performed the exact job before, as I mentioned earlier in this article.
This section of your cover letter should outline 1-3 key skill sets, experiences, or accomplishments that directly relate to the job description’s bullet points for responsibilities.
This is your chance to demonstrate that you have experience with the position and that, with the right training and guidance, you could succeed in it right away.
Again, even if everything you’ll be doing in the position doesn’t exactly match up with your experience, this is your chance to emphasize the experience that does clearly make you a fit for the position.
This could be a task you completed, a duty you undertook, or any other skill set that demonstrates your competency in the main responsibilities you would have if hired by the company.
What This Looks Like in Practice
If you’re applying for a position as an Acquisitions Analyst at a multifamily investment firm, for instance, you might want to mention any prior experience you have with underwriting multifamily properties, putting together offering memorandums and equity investor packages, managing the due diligence process, building pro forma models in Excel, or anything else that will be required of you once you begin the position.
Again, you don’t have to check every single one of these boxes for this to work if you’re feeling overwhelmed or saying, “I don’t have all the experience they’re looking for.”
You might, for instance, be applying for the position of multifamily Acquisitions Analyst and only have corporate finance expertise.
You worked a lot in Excel in that corporate finance position, possibly produced pro forma models and cash flow projections, and your exposure to these tasks has probably given you a solid grasp of how to interpret cash flow statements and fundamental accounting principles.
Additionally, having experience in a different sector will give you a unique perspective and training that commercial real estate companies frequently value when trying to identify their own blind spots.
You should also use your cover letter to highlight any “must-have” skill sets that you’re currently developing. You can do this by mentioning any coursework you’re completing right now or any certifications or licenses that you’re applying for right now.
In general, this paragraph is where you can explain to the employer why you are a perfect fit for the position you are applying for and how the transition will make sense based on where you have been, what you can do, and where you want to go in the future.
Commercial Real Estate Cover Letters Should Start and End With Gratitude
The last recommendation I have is to make sure that you begin and end your commercial real estate cover letter with humility and gratitude once you have clearly stated your objectives and demonstrated your capacity to carry out the position successfully.
Yes, I am aware that this sounds somewhat woo woo or “out there,” but bear with me.
At the analyst and associate level in particular, hiring managers do not want new hires to act as if they already know everything and that their way is the only correct way.
The expectation will typically be that you’ll learn the company’s procedures and way of doing things and that you’re still relatively malleable in terms of how you perform your job if you’re applying for a position that requires up to about five years of experience.
Like resumes, cover letters require careful balancing between coming across as confident while avoiding sounding haughty or arrogant.
Though you should be careful not to overstate or embellish your experiences or skill sets (which is frequently more obvious than you’d think to experienced hiring managers), you should be clear about the things you can do and the experiences you’ve had.
The best way to navigate this fine line is to convey your enthusiasm for using your current skill set to contribute to the team while also mentioning how drawn you are to the learning and growth opportunities within the company.
Companies want a team player that is always willing to improve, someone who can assess their own strengths and weaknesses, and a person who acknowledges that they aren%E2%80%99t perfect or right 100% of the time
And the candidate who expresses their skills and abilities clearly (and with humility) performs much better than the person who tries to sound like they are an authority on everything and who blatantly exaggerates their background and abilities.
Need More Help With Your Commercial Real Estate Cover Letter?
I hope this was helpful in making some adjustments to your current process and helps you identify some areas for improvement if you’re creating cover letters and sending them out to commercial real estate firms.
And don’t forget to check out our premium training platform, Break Into CRE Academy, if you need more assistance with creating your commercial real estate cover letters or resume.
In addition to instant access to our entire library of video courses on real estate financial modeling and analysis, a membership to the Academy includes private, members-only email-based career coaching, so you can ask questions and get feedback on your resume and cover letter before applying for commercial real estate jobs. This will help you develop the technical skill sets you’ll need to ace Excel modeling interviews and land jobs at top real estate private equity, br
I appreciate you reading, and I wish you luck with your applications.
