Development Associate Compensation - Does this sound right?
Hi,
I was offered a development associate position in West Los Angeles with a starting base salary of $82,000 and ~$3,000 in bonus, 3% 401K match after a year, no car reimbursement, 70% HC paid for.
This position will be handling multifamily development projects of about 50 - 100 units each. I will be responsible for the underwriting and acquisitions of sites, day to day entitlements, consultant issues, hiring consultants, representing the ownership on the job site with the general contractor, handling bank draws, representing the ownership on GC change orders, etc. I have 2 years experience coming from the Midwest.
$85K comp all in seems like it is pretty low to me... thoughts?
Small bonus... do you get any piece of the deals you work on? I know at least one member of this board works for a development shop in LA.
No piece of the deals
A colleague of mine was offered 85k with a 10% bonus, so about $95k all in for a Sr. Analyst position for an owner/operator in So-Cal. He has 2 years of experience as well. Responsibilities were relatively the same and focused on MF development. Although I do believe at that particular firm, it was rare to have any piece of the deal unless it was for a more senior position.
I'm east coast and in PE with development focus so my understanding of market for your type of role may be a bit off. I do think 80k-100k base + ~0-25% bonus is typical for analyst/associate (2 yrs of experience) type role at smaller development shop. If the guys you run with are cool and well established you'll see some carry.
Your bonus seems low, but base seems alright. I would value the experience and responsibilities greater than your salary. Seems like from the description you'll be gaining decent exposure to the business. Stay as close to the deals as possible. If I were in your shoes and I had to chose between +10k in salary or more responsibility and exposure I'd chose the latter.
That's a fair offer.
Agree with capratecompression - if you do well you're likely to see higher than the stated level of bonus. Work hard, build a solid relationship with the developers on your team and have a little faith. If you're a rockstar and you advocate for yourself they will do what it takes to keep you around.
Deal exposure/learning is the name of the game at this level. You're fortunate to have an offer to work in development. Not a lot of people can say that.
That bonus is crazy low, now that I think of it the base is low too.
http://celassociates.com/prime/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CELAssociates…
LA is a very competitive market and they could easily hire someone with 2 years of experience for a lower base. Your experience on the other hand will be priceless, and others mentioned, if you crush it, they will reward you. I'm assuming this is a smaller (read: not institutional) shop, so you will have your hands in everything and will see the process from soup to nuts. With the market how it is, and ground up development being extremely risky, you are fortunate to be landing a position now. With that being said, I am also based in LA and would love to connect. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to talk.
The base is fine, but I'm not even sure what the point of a $3,000 bonus is. Very low. You're better off asking for $85,000 flat at that point.
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