Questions to Ask in a Commercial Real Estate Interview
Questions to ask in a commercial real estate interview when you are the candidate, whether the seat is in brokerage, acquisitions, asset management or lending, at a local shop, a national firm or a REIT. Many are what to ask a commercial broker before joining the company, or the one team inside it that you would work for, and a handful suit a REIT interview, where shareholders and reporting dates shape the work. They run roughly in the order the conversations do: the role, the deals, training, the firm, then pay and a few to close on.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The role
What does an ordinary week look like for the person in this seat?
Why ask it
Listen for the verbs. Calling owners, touring space, cleaning up rent rolls and building models make for very different weeks, and an interviewer who can describe the firm but not the week may not work closely with the seat. A good follow-up is which of those took up most of last week.
Which deals or listings is the team working on right now, and what would I be doing on them?
Why ask it
Live work is harder to dress up than a job description. If the answer names a property and a task, such as abstracting leases for an office sale or calling tenants on a new listing, the job exists today. A vague reply may only mean the deals are confidential, so say you are happy to hear it without names.
How do you read this market right now, and where is the firm putting its effort?
Why ask it
It shows you came to talk about property as well as the job, and most people in the business have a view they are glad to give. Have your own ready, because the question tends to come straight back. Notice whether their read matches what the firm is actually doing.
What would you expect from me by the end of year one, and by year three?
Why ask it
A firm that has thought about ramp can put it in numbers: calls, tours, listings and closed volume in brokerage, models turned and deals closed on an investment team. If the answer stays at working hard, there may be no agreed measure, and you would learn how you are doing only when someone is unhappy.
Which property types and submarkets would I cover?
Why ask it
Territory is a large part of what a brokerage seat hands you, and a narrow, unworked submarket can beat a share of a crowded one. Find out who else in the office already calls those owners and what happens when two lists overlap. On an investment team, the same question tells you which kinds of building you would learn to underwrite.
Does the team mostly represent landlords, tenants, buyers or sellers?
Why ask it
The side decides the work. Landlord and seller work means winning listings and marketing them, while tenant and buyer work means finding people with a requirement and touring with them. If the office does both, see whether a junior gets to try each before settling on one.
What size of deal does the team usually work on?
Why ask it
Deal size sets the rhythm of the job. Small leases and sales close more often and let a new person run one sooner, while large ones can take a year and leave a junior holding one piece of a big file. Neither is better, but the first few years of experience come out very different.
How big is the team, and who would I answer to day to day?
Why ask it
The name on the door and the person who hands you work are often two different people. A junior serving four seniors has four sets of deadlines, so find out who decides whose request wins.
Who had this seat before me, and where are they now?
Why ask it
Promoted here, hired by a competitor and out of the industry are three different stories about the training. If the seat is new, the useful follow-up is why the firm is adding it now and whose work it takes over.
How much of the first two years is cold calling and knocking on doors?
Why ask it
Many junior brokerage seats are mostly prospecting, and it is better to hear the daily call expectation now than to discover it in month three. A clear number, and whether it is tracked, is a fair answer. Think honestly about whether you could do it for two years before you say it sounds fine.
How much of the job is at a desk, and how much is out at properties or with clients?
Why ask it
Some analyst seats rarely leave the spreadsheet and some brokerage seats are mostly driving. Tours and client meetings are where judgment about buildings gets built, so weigh a desk-only answer carefully if you want to move toward deals.
How much of this seat's work feeds the quarterly results and the investor presentations?
Why ask it
A listed company reports to its shareholders on a fixed calendar, and someone junior usually pulls together the property numbers behind it. That work shows you the whole portfolio quickly, but it can crowd out deals in the weeks before results. Find out which weeks those are.
Deals
Where do the leads come from: house accounts, a senior broker, or my own prospecting?
Why ask it
This tells you whether you are being hired to find business or to service it. The share of last year's closed deals that came from each source is the number to get, because an office can have house accounts and still give new people none of them.
How long does it usually take someone new here to close a first deal?
Why ask it
Leases and sales are slow to close, so a first commission in brokerage often takes many months and sometimes more than a year. If the number you hear is short, check whether those first deals were handed down or self-sourced. Then set it against how long your savings would last.
What has this office closed in the last twelve months, and who brought those deals in?
Why ask it
National figures tend to get quoted when local ones are thin, so keep the question on this office. Concentration matters too: if one broker sourced most of it, you are joining that person's business, and their plans become your risk.
What is the firm's investment strategy, and has it changed lately?
Why ask it
Strategy decides what you will learn. Core and stabilized buildings teach lease analysis and financing, while value-add and development teach construction budgets and lease-up risk. A recent change deserves a follow-up on whether the firm chose it or the market forced it.
Whose capital is behind the deals: a fund, a few institutions, a family, or money raised deal by deal?
Why ask it
Where the money comes from sets the pace and the pressure. A fund with capital to place is under pressure to buy, while a firm that raises deal by deal can go quiet for a long stretch when investors pull back. How much is left to invest, and by when, tells you how busy the next couple of years are likely to be.
How many opportunities did the team look at last year for each one it closed?
Why ask it
A wide gap is normal in acquisitions, where most of what crosses the desk is passed on quickly. What matters is whether anything closed at all, because closed transactions are what a later employer will want to hear about.
How long does the firm usually hold a property, and who looks after it once it is bought?
Why ask it
The answer shows whether acquisitions and asset management are one team or two. Where they are one, a junior gets to see whether the underwriting held up after closing, which is hard to learn any other way. Where they are separate, it is worth knowing how often the two groups compare notes.
How does the share price, or the cost of raising money, change what the team is able to buy?
Why ask it
A REIT often pays for new buildings with shares or debt it has to raise, so a weak share price can quiet the acquisitions desk for a while. People inside usually have a plain view of where that stands today. Their answer hints at whether the coming year is about buying, selling or running what is already owned.
Which numbers is the team held to: occupancy, rent growth, income from the same properties, something else?
Why ask it
An asset manager measured on occupancy makes different leasing choices from one measured on rent growth, so the measure tells you what gets attention. At a REIT these are often the same figures the company publishes to investors. Whichever they name is the one to understand before your first review.
How far through a deal would I stay involved, from sourcing to closing and after?
Why ask it
Some firms hand a junior one slice, usually the model, and pass the rest to other groups. Seeing a deal from first call to closing statement is the faster education. If the answer is underwriting only, ask when that widens.
Would I build models from scratch or work in the firm's template, and in which software?
Why ask it
A template is quicker and teaches you the firm's assumptions, but you can use one for a long time without understanding it. If a modeling test is part of the process, this answer says what to practice. Excel and Argus come up most often, though plenty of shops use only one.
Can you tell me about a deal that went wrong here, and what the firm changed afterwards?
Why ask it
A specific story with a lesson attached suggests people can talk about mistakes without the blame landing on the most junior name in the file. A version where the fault was entirely the market's is its own answer. Save this for someone senior enough to tell it.
Training and growth
Who would train me day to day, and does that person share in my deals?
Why ask it
Mentoring tends to last when the mentor has a stake in what you produce, and to fade when it depends on goodwill in a busy month. On a salaried team, the equivalent is whether training you counts in that person's own review. Ask to meet them, and find out how many hours a week it really takes.
What do the first ninety days look like before I am expected to produce?
Why ask it
A good answer has a sequence: shadowing, a market to learn, a first list to call or a first model to check. 'You will pick it up' means the training is whatever the nearest busy person has time for.
Would I sit in on client calls, tours and investment committee, or hear about them afterwards?
Why ask it
Being in the room is how juniors learn what clients push back on and how seniors answer. Firms that keep new people out of meetings at first are often protecting relationships, which is understandable, but you should know how long the wait is.
What do the people who do well here have in common, and where do the others go wrong?
Why ask it
The reply is the firm's real scorecard, whatever the posting says. If it is call volume, believe it. If it is accuracy and speed on models, believe that too, and compare either one with how you actually like to work.
What is the next step up from this seat, and how long did it take the last few people to get there?
Why ask it
Titles vary from firm to firm, so pin down what changes with the step: pay structure, clients of your own, a say in decisions. Recent names and dates are better evidence than an organization chart.
Has anyone here moved from an analyst or support seat into brokerage or acquisitions?
Why ask it
Some analyst and support roles are a path to deals and some are permanent by design. A name and a rough date is the answer you want. If the last few people in the senior seats all came from competitors, the ladder on the chart may not be the one people climb.
Is there a rotation through different groups for new hires, and how long is each stint?
Why ask it
Larger owners and some REITs send new analysts through acquisitions, asset management and capital markets before placing them. A rotation gives a wider view of how a building makes money, while a fixed seat gives depth sooner. If there is one, learn who decides where you land when it ends.
Does the firm pay for courses, designations or modeling training, or give time for them?
Why ask it
It is a small item that shows whether development is budgeted or left to your evenings. If they name a particular course or designation, find out who took it most recently, and check whether the cost has to be repaid if you leave within a set period.
How often would my work or my pipeline be reviewed, and what happens after a bad quarter?
Why ask it
You want to know what sits between a weak quarter and a conversation about leaving. A firm with a set review can describe it easily: who is in the room, which numbers are on the table, what help follows. Without one, people tend to learn where they stand late.
The firm
What support sits behind a broker here: research, marketing, analysts, admin?
Why ask it
The difference between a platform and a desk is who builds the offering memorandum at eleven at night. Get the number of brokers who share each analyst, because support that looks good on paper can turn out to be one overloaded person.
How did the firm handle the last slow stretch in the market?
Why ask it
Commercial real estate is cyclical, and everyone sounds committed while deals are closing. Whether the firm cut junior staff, cut draws or held people through it is the best guide you will get to what happens to you when volume drops.
What is the biggest challenge the team is facing right now?
Why ask it
The answer shows what you would be hired into: a lender pulling back, a listing that will not move, a senior who just left, too much work for too few analysts. Follow with how this seat is meant to help. If the reply is that there is nothing, try asking what took the most time at the last team meeting.
What are the firm's plans for the next few years: new markets, new property types, another fund?
Why ask it
Growth is where junior people get room, since a new office needs someone to cover it and a new fund needs deals underwritten. A firm that means to stay the size it is can still be a good place to learn, but promotion there may wait on someone leaving.
What made you join this firm, and what has kept you here?
Why ask it
People tend to answer the first half with a practiced line and the second half more honestly. Reasons like a particular mentor or the way deals are shared carry over to you. A book of business built over many years does not, at least not yet.
How long have the senior people been here, and has anyone left in the past year?
Why ask it
In brokerage especially, a departing senior can take clients and the juniors attached to them. Long tenure is reassuring, though a firm nobody ever leaves can also have no room at the top, so it is fair to ask who is next in line.
Do people here share leads and information, or does each desk guard its own?
Why ask it
Commission businesses can turn colleagues into rivals for the same owners. The telling follow-up is how a dispute over who called a prospect first gets settled. A written rule and a named person who decides mean it has happened before and been dealt with.
If I join one senior broker's team, is my agreement with that team or with the company?
Why ask it
At a large brokerage you can be brought on by the company and still work under a single team's own terms. The team's paper may set the split, the expenses and who keeps the contacts if you go. See both documents before joining, and notice whether they agree with each other.
Could I spend an hour with the team I would sit with before I decide?
Why ask it
Two teams in one office can differ more than two firms do, in pace, in humor and in how juniors are spoken to. Watching a morning of calls or a pipeline meeting shows that better than any answer in an interview room. A company that will not arrange it before you accept has told you something as well.
What are the hours really like, and when do they spike?
Why ask it
Brokerage hours tend to follow clients, and investment hours follow bid deadlines and closings. Asking when it spikes gets a truer picture than asking for an average, and it lets the interviewer be honest without sounding like a warning.
Pay
How is this role paid: salary, commission, or a draw against commission?
Why ask it
This is the one money question that belongs early, and a recruiter can usually answer it. If the seat is commission only, you are being offered a desk and a platform more than a job, and the split, the costs and your own savings matter more than the title.
Would I be an employee or an independent contractor?
Why ask it
Many brokerage seats are contractor arrangements, which can change who covers health insurance, expenses and tax withholding. The rules differ by state and country, so have the firm explain how it works there and read the agreement before you count a commission as take-home pay.
If there is a draw, is it recoverable, and what happens if I do not earn it back?
Why ask it
A recoverable draw works like an advance against future commissions, so under some agreements a slow first year can end with you owing the firm money. Find out how large the balance usually gets before a first deal closes, and whether it is forgiven if you leave. Then check that the written agreement says the same thing.
What are the commission splits, and what moves them?
Why ask it
Splits usually rise with production, so the full grid is more useful than the top number. What comes off before the split matters as much: marketing, research subscriptions, desk fees and referral cuts can take a large share of a first year.
How is the fee divided when a junior and a senior work a deal together?
Why ask it
Team arrangements run from real mentorship to a senior keeping most of the fee for an introduction. Two details settle it: whose name is on the listing agreement, and what happens to your share of a relationship if you later leave the team.
If I bring existing relationships with me, how are those treated?
Why ask it
The details are a protection period, whether those clients become house accounts, and your split on them. What you can take with you on the way out belongs in the same conversation, and it is easier to raise before you sign than after. How far a non-solicit clause can be enforced depends on where you work, so have the agreement read if this matters to you.
How long after a closing does the money reach me?
Why ask it
A signed lease or a sale under contract is not a paycheck. Fees can arrive in installments, wait on the client paying the firm, or be held until a tenant moves in. The lag tells you how many months of savings the first deal really requires.
How is the bonus decided, and what range has it fallen in at this level?
Why ask it
A discretionary bonus is easy to describe generously in an interview and is paid according to the year. A formula tied to closed deals or fund performance is easier to plan around than a figure someone settles in December. If no range is offered, what moved it last year is a fair second try.
Do people below partner level share in the promote or get to invest in the deals?
Why ask it
On the investment side, much of the long-term money can sit in carried interest and co-investment instead of salary. Hearing that it starts at a certain title and vests over time is a normal answer. Keep this for a late round or the offer stage, where it reads as planning and not as counting money early.
Is any part of the pay in company shares, and how do they vest?
Why ask it
Some listed companies pay part of a bonus in restricted shares that become yours over several years. The detail to get is what happens to the unvested part if you resign or are let go. How shares are taxed depends on where you live, so check that separately before counting them as income.
Which data services and software does the firm pay for, and which would I pay for myself?
Why ask it
Market data subscriptions are expensive and are sometimes charged to the broker instead of the firm. Get the annual figure, because it is a real cost against a commission income that may not start for a year.
What license do I need, who pays for it, and when do I need it by?
Why ask it
Licensing rules differ by state and country, and some firms advance the cost and take it back if you leave early. Whether you can be paid on a deal that closes before your license is issued is also a matter of local rules, so have the firm say how it handles that gap.
Wrapping up
Is there anything in my background that gives you pause for this seat?
Why ask it
It takes some nerve, and it is your one chance to answer a doubt before the decision is made without you. If the concern is no license, no modeling experience or no local network, say what you are already doing about it. Do not argue with the answer.
Would it help if I sent a sample model or a short write-up of a deal?
Why ask it
On analyst and acquisitions seats, a clean model or a one-page write-up of a property you have studied can say more than a line on a resume. Offer only work you built yourself and are free to share, with anything confidential from a past employer taken out.
Could I speak with someone who started in this seat in the last couple of years?
Why ask it
A recent hire remembers what the first months cost and has less reason to polish it. What they wish they had asked at this stage is the best thing to put to them. This request fits a late round better than a first call.
What should I read about the company before the next round?
Why ask it
For a listed REIT the answer is likely to be the annual report, the latest results presentation or a recent earnings call, all of which are public. A brokerage might point you to its market report or a listing package it is proud of. Read it and bring one specific point back, because few candidates do.
What happens next, and when do you expect to decide?
Why ask it
Find out whether a modeling test, a case study or a meeting with a senior partner is still to come, so you can prepare for it. A date also gives you a fair reason to follow up, and something to tell another firm that is waiting on you.
Getting ready for a commercial real estate interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Know which seat you are interviewing for
Brokerage
Transaction driven and usually commission based. You are being evaluated on whether you can prospect, and you should be evaluating the split, the territory, the draw, and how long your savings last. If the seat is on one senior's team, the questions to ask that commercial broker before joining the team cover the team's own agreement as well as the company's.
Acquisitions and capital markets
Usually salary plus bonus, and heavier on underwriting and modeling. Ask how many deals the team actually closed last year, since a team that underwrites constantly and buys nothing produces analysts with no closed transactions on their resume.
Asset and property management
Steadier pay, operating work, closer to tenants and budgets. Ask about portfolio size per manager and how much of the role is travel to sites, because both vary widely between firms.
Debt and lending
Sits with the capital more than the property. Ask whether you would be originating, underwriting, or servicing, and what the credit approval process looks like from the inside.
A REIT interview
A REIT owns and runs a portfolio on behalf of shareholders, so the seats are mostly acquisitions, asset management, portfolio management and capital markets, paid by salary and bonus. If the company is listed, its annual report and results presentations are public, and interviewers can tell who has read them. The questions to ask during a REIT interview are the ones a private firm would not have an answer to: how the cost of raising money is shaping what gets bought, which published numbers the team is held to, and how much of the seat feeds investor reporting.
What to bring to the conversation
Expect to be tested on whether you follow the market, not only on your resume. What you ask a commercial real estate broker counts toward whether you get the job too, because the questions show if you understand how the business earns its fees. Prepare like this:
- Know two or three recent transactions in their submarket and have an opinion on the pricing.
- Be able to walk through a simple pro forma out loud: income, vacancy, operating expenses, net operating income, cap rate.
- Have a view on where the asset class you would cover is heading and why, and be willing to be argued with.
- Prepare a plain answer to how you would find your first listing, since an interview for a commission seat usually gets there.
- Ask for the numbers politely but directly. You cannot budget for a commission seat whose terms you do not know.
Choosing what to ask in each round
First conversation
Stay with The role, where the opening questions about the week, the live deals and the market sit. A recruiter or a junior interviewer can describe the team but often cannot quote splits or bonus ranges. The one Pay question that belongs this early is whether the seat is salary, commission or a draw, because it decides whether the job is one you can afford to take.
With the person you would work for
Deals and Training and growth belong here. Ask where the business comes from, how far through a transaction you would stay involved, and who teaches you. Three or four questions asked properly, with follow-ups, do more than ten read from a page.
With a partner or the head of the office
The firm is for someone who was there in the last slow stretch and knows the plans. This is also the person to ask about the deal that went wrong, since a junior interviewer may not be free to tell it.
Final round or offer stage
Bring out the rest of the Pay questions: the split grid or bonus range, the draw terms, what is deducted, contractor or employee status, and any non-solicit language. Ask for it in writing and read the agreement before you accept. Terms vary by firm and by state, so do not assume the last firm's arrangement applies to this one.
The last five minutes
Wrapping up is short on purpose. Ask what gives them pause, ask what happens next, and stop. One good closing question lands better than four squeezed into a meeting that has already run over.
Warning signs
- No clear answer on splits, draws, or what is deducted before the split.
- Ramp expectations described only as working hard and staying hungry.
- Everyone in the office is either very senior or brand new, with nobody in between.
- Training is a stack of recordings and no named person.
- License, data and marketing costs all fall on you and there is no draw. Some commission shops work this way, but it puts the whole risk on your savings.
- Turnover in the seat is high and nobody will say where those people went.