Which part of the business does this seat sit in: brokerage, acquisitions, asset management, or debt?

These are four different jobs that share an industry and a vocabulary. Brokerage pays on transactions you source, acquisitions pays a salary to underwrite what someone else sources, and asset management is an operating job. Firms often blur the line in a posting to widen the applicant pool.

How is this role paid: salary, commission, or a draw against commission?

Ask plainly and early, because the answer reorders every other question. A pure commission seat means the firm is giving you a desk and a phone rather than a job, and you should be evaluating the platform the way you would evaluate a franchise.

If there is a draw, is it recoverable, and what happens if I do not earn it back?

A recoverable draw is a loan against future commissions, so a slow first year can end with you owing the firm money. Ask what the balance is at the point people typically wash out, and whether it is forgiven if you leave.

How long does it usually take someone new here to close their first deal?

The honest answer in most brokerage shops is nine to eighteen months, and a firm that says three is either selling you or handing out house accounts. Compare their number against how long your savings would actually last.

Where do the leads come from: house accounts, a senior broker, or my own prospecting?

This determines whether you are being hired to originate or to service. Ask what percentage of last year's closed deals came from each source, because a firm can technically have house accounts while giving new people none of them.

Professional & Academic

Questions to Ask in a Commercial Real Estate Interview

Questions for a candidate interviewing at a brokerage, an acquisitions team, or an asset management group, covering how the seat actually pays, where deals come from, what the ramp looks like, who trains you, and what happens in a slow market.

20 questions, each with the reason to ask it · includes a conversation guide

Open any question to see why it works.

1
Which part of the business does this seat sit in: brokerage, acquisitions, asset management, or debt?
These are four different jobs that share an industry and a vocabulary. Brokerage pays on transactions you source, acquisitions pays a salary to underwrite what someone else sources, and asset management is an operating job. Firms often blur the line in a posting to widen the applicant pool.
2
How is this role paid: salary, commission, or a draw against commission?
Ask plainly and early, because the answer reorders every other question. A pure commission seat means the firm is giving you a desk and a phone rather than a job, and you should be evaluating the platform the way you would evaluate a franchise.
3
If there is a draw, is it recoverable, and what happens if I do not earn it back?
A recoverable draw is a loan against future commissions, so a slow first year can end with you owing the firm money. Ask what the balance is at the point people typically wash out, and whether it is forgiven if you leave.
4
How long does it usually take someone new here to close their first deal?
The honest answer in most brokerage shops is nine to eighteen months, and a firm that says three is either selling you or handing out house accounts. Compare their number against how long your savings would actually last.
5
Where do the leads come from: house accounts, a senior broker, or my own prospecting?
This determines whether you are being hired to originate or to service. Ask what percentage of last year's closed deals came from each source, because a firm can technically have house accounts while giving new people none of them.
6
What are the commission splits, and what moves them?
Splits usually rise with production, so ask for the actual grid rather than the top number. Also ask what comes off the top before the split: marketing, research subscriptions, desk fees, and referral cuts can be a large share of a first year.
7
Will I be on a team, and how is credit divided inside it?
Team structures range from genuine mentorship to a senior broker capturing most of the fee for an introduction. Ask who signs the listing agreement and what happens to your share of a relationship if you later leave the team.
8
What is expected of me in year one, year two, and year three?
Firms that have thought about ramp can state it in calls, tours, listings, or closed volume. Vague answers here usually mean there is no plan and no review until the day someone decides you are not working out.
9
What support sits behind a broker here: research, marketing, analysts, admin?
The difference between a platform and a desk is who builds the offering memorandum at eleven at night. Ask how many brokers share each analyst, because a good ratio on paper often means one overloaded person.
10
What market data and software do you pay for, and do I pay any of it back?
Data subscriptions in this industry are expensive and are sometimes charged to the broker rather than the firm. Get the annual figure, because it is a real cost against a commission income that may not start for a year.
11
Which product types and submarkets would I cover?
Territory is the actual asset you are being given. A narrow, unworked submarket can be better than a share of a crowded one, but ask who else in the office already calls those owners and what happens when your lists overlap.
12
What has this office closed in the last twelve months, and who sourced those deals?
Firms quote national figures when the local numbers are thin. Concentration matters too: if one broker sourced most of it, you are joining that person's business rather than the office, and their plans become your risk.
13
Who sat in this seat before me, and what happened to them?
In an industry with high early attrition, the answer is rarely flattering, but the shape of it matters. Left for a competitor, left the industry, or promoted internally are three very different signals about the training here.
14
How much of my first two years is cold outreach, realistically?
Most junior brokerage seats are a calling job with a real estate label. Ask for the daily call or door expectation and whether it is tracked, so you find out now rather than in month three whether you can live with it.
15
Who would actually train me, and what do they get for doing it?
Mentorship holds up when the mentor is paid on your production and falls apart when it is goodwill. Ask to meet the person, and ask them separately how many hours a week this really takes.
16
What licensing do I need, who pays for it, and when do I need it by?
Requirements differ by state and some firms advance the cost then claw it back if you leave early. Ask whether you are allowed to be paid on a deal before the licence issues, because that gap can swallow your first commission.
17
How is a pipeline reviewed here, and what does a bad quarter look like?
You want to know what happens between a weak quarter and a conversation about leaving. Firms with a defined review process will describe it easily. Firms without one manage by mood, which is much harder to plan around.
18
How did this firm handle the last slow stretch in the market?
Commercial real estate is cyclical and everyone sounds committed at the top. Ask specifically whether they cut junior staff, cut draws, or held people through it, since that is what will happen to you when volume drops.
19
If I bring existing relationships with me, how are those treated?
Ask about a protection period, whether those clients become house accounts, and what your split is on them. Also ask what you can take with you on the way out, because non-solicit language is easier to negotiate before you sign than after.
20
A year from now, what would make you glad you hired me, and what would make you regret it?
It forces a specific description of success and failure in a business where both are usually described as activity. The regret half often surfaces the real complaint about the last person, which tells you what the job is actually short of.

Interviewing on the commercial side

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.

Acquisitions and capital markets

Salary plus bonus, heavier on underwriting and modelling. 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 enormously between firms.

Debt and lending

Sits with the capital rather than the property. Ask whether you would be originating, underwriting, or servicing, and what the credit approval process looks like from the inside.

What to bring to the conversation

Interviewers in this industry test market interest more than credentials. 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 a commission seat interview always arrives there.
Ask for the numbers politely but directly. Candidates who avoid the money questions are often the ones who quit in month eight.

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 rather than a named person.
You are asked to pay for your own licence, data, and marketing with no draw.
Turnover in the seat is high and nobody will say where those people went.

The questions

Which part of the business does this seat sit in: brokerage, acquisitions, asset management, or debt?

How is this role paid: salary, commission, or a draw against commission?

If there is a draw, is it recoverable, and what happens if I do not earn it back?

How long does it usually take someone new here to close their first deal?

Where do the leads come from: house accounts, a senior broker, or my own prospecting?

What are the commission splits, and what moves them?

Will I be on a team, and how is credit divided inside it?

What is expected of me in year one, year two, and year three?

What support sits behind a broker here: research, marketing, analysts, admin?

What market data and software do you pay for, and do I pay any of it back?

Which product types and submarkets would I cover?

What has this office closed in the last twelve months, and who sourced those deals?

Who sat in this seat before me, and what happened to them?

How much of my first two years is cold outreach, realistically?

Who would actually train me, and what do they get for doing it?

What licensing do I need, who pays for it, and when do I need it by?

How is a pipeline reviewed here, and what does a bad quarter look like?

How did this firm handle the last slow stretch in the market?

If I bring existing relationships with me, how are those treated?

A year from now, what would make you glad you hired me, and what would make you regret it?