Realtors would be great in lower-middle market PE. I'm surprised I don't see more (any) of them, but I suspect they make enough money in RE (especially the good ones).
Realtors excel at:
• Managing a pipeline with lots of prospects at different stages.
• Talking sellers off the fence.
• Negotiating deals (lots of txn experience).
• Quickly prognosing value creation potential.
• Working round-the-clock.
• Managing vendors (scrappy, limited back office support.)
• Building rapport w/ stakeholders (high EQ).
• Identifying emerging patterns in hyper-focused area of expertise.
PE is, of course, more complex with myriad operational variables, less hard-asset collateral, less formulaic financing, and generally much less predictability. PE pay is also backloaded (as opposed to cash commission).
