Top tips for starting your career in real estate

The competitive and fast paced world of real estate presents a wealth of career opportunities but there are some key areas for development that will stand you in good stead for any role in this sector.

Network now
It can be daunting when first starting out but it is never too early to start building your network. Real estate is a collaborative and sociable sector and you will often find that experienced professionals who have been in the industry for many years are generous with their time and able to provide valuable advice. 

There are now some established mentoring schemes for this industry, including traditional role model mentoring and speed mentoring events. It is worth investigating these opportunities as they can provide support to you. The benefits of successful mentoring schemes are mutual, providing juniors with invaluable support and allowing senior industry professionals to learn from their junior colleagues by sharing different perspectives. 

In terms of networking the best way to get started is to join established associations, attend industry events and follow leading professionals through platforms like LinkedIn. You will find that your network grows naturally over time and sharing your professional views and opinions by commenting on posts and articles on other platforms can help to develop your personal brand and reputation. 

The property world can be heavily influenced by public policy but try to steer clear of party politics when commenting publicly!

Establish expertise
People will be most interested in what you have to say if you have established a particular expertise in an aspect of practice, policy or regulation affecting real estate. 

Developing your knowledge is critical to success in any career of course, but the real estate sector is constantly changing, influenced by the politics of the day, the wider economic outlook, and those key initiatives that tend to have cross-party support such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, tackling the UK’s housing issues, and harnessing technological advances that can benefit all types of property. 

For example, if you are interested in ESG, can you give an example of a net-zero carbon commercial building? Do you understand what a building’s BREAAM rating is? How might this impact upon valuation? Perhaps you are intrigued by social impact investing – have you considered how this applies to our sector? To what extent should social issues be incorporated into lease drafting?

Identify the topical issues most directly relevant to your role and keep up to date with any key market and legal developments. 

Prepare for proptech
You will already be very familiar with technology from your studies, work or personal life. However, there are some specific examples of technology being used by businesses to manage real estate and this is an area of growing focus and interest. The property industry is embarking upon its transition to digital but what does this mean in practice? 

These tools assist in property management allowing us to efficiently gather data to track useful metrics, provide more accurate valuations and make investment decisions. Virtual reality tools mean that interested parties can take a virtual tour of properties and some overseas buyers or investors may be in a position to proceed without ever having visited the physical building. 

Proptech can also be used to mitigate climate change as data about the design, construction and occupation phases of buildings promotes better decision making and can lead to reduced energy consumption. Industry groups such as the UK PropTech Association publish thought leadership pieces and spotlight interviews highlighting interesting developments in proptech and AI which will help you to stay up to date.

You can start to action these points today by checking out the headlines in specialist publications such as EG and seeking out industry focus groups of interest to you. Remember, you are never too young or inexperienced to engage with the industry.

In fact, whatever your level, taking time to learn more about both the people and the places in this sector will help to bring your career aspirations to life.

Laura Sheftel is senior knowledge lawyer at Clyde & Co. Thank you to Clyde & Co for being partners on our Future Leaders programme.

If you would like to hear more top tips for starting your career in real estate or the groundbreaking ideas with the potential to redefine the real estate industry from this year’s Future Leaders cohort then please register here.