1st Year Analyst offer - Salary advice
I'm a senior at a top tier college looking for first year analyst roles in CRE. My internship was not in real estate, but I have the REFM levels 1 and 2 certifications.
I have an offer at a medium sized family office in Orange County (real estate team is ~25-30 employees, probably $1-2b range) which does acquisitions and development of large office/industrial/mixed-used properties. The firm has explicit plans to grow aggressively in the coming years. There is no formal analyst program, so my offer was as-needed to round out one of the geographic groups. Hours at the firm are very low (half day fridays, 8-6 otherwise) and the work is very generalist (model everything, work on leases, etc).
My offer is for $60k + 10% bonus. Given that Orange County (specifically the area where the office is) is one of the most expensive areas in the country, this feels quite low to me. The firm doesn't seem to have an established protocol for hiring analysts, so I'm wondering what my negotiating strategy should be to push back on the salary. Does anyone have any insight? I have until the 31st to decide.
Take the offer. Experience trumps everything. You are still young. Work there for two years then lateral if you are not happy. Constantly network regardless if you are happy with your job or not, it's part of the game. I've met plenty of people who would do anything to get a foot in the door (including going to a M7 school).