Asset Managers at GP's - let's talk comp
Hi everyone, I'm a 1st year associate Asset Manager at a smaller (<$1B AUM) value-add REPE operator that runs in secondary West Coast cities. I've been with the company for a little over a year now. I think I'm being underpaid at $100k base and no bonus. I do get the ability to co-invest on a per deal basis; but no carry.
My schedule is between 40-50 hours/week, averaging to about 45 hours. My responsibilities range from leasing management/underwriting, TI construction management, budgeting for over 20 properties (all property types), some property management, some acquisition due diligence... we're a smaller (in office headcount of ~20) firm so I wear a fair amount of hats.
I'm hoping to get a pulse on how my comp stacks up to market so that I can be ready with my ask when year end raises are discussed. Can some of you AM's share your comp and/or provide insights into market compensation for someone in my position? Looking forward to discussing!
Sounds about right to me.
Are you a 1st year out college? Or just 1st year as associate? If latter, how many years of experience do you have. Your pay is definitely in line and given your work hours and title. Some could even argue its above average.
I'm a first year associate with ~2 years of prior CRE brokerage exp. $100K all-in is potentially above average?!
AM doesn't pay as amazing as most think, but its probably the safest place to be in the current market.
Seems about right.
to put in context, AM/Leasing folks with ~12 years of exp are making all in ~ 200K in some instances. As is always the case, RE is highly variable.
Would you say that's market AM comp for someone with that much experience, as in they're not being underpaid?
Throwing my hat into the ring here, GPs notoriously underpay juniors. The real upside isn’t until later. LPs typically pay more at a junior level.
Given my ignorance regarding west coast market pay, unfortunately I can’t comment on your relative pay.
Couldn’t pay me to do strictly AM
Why not?
I take that comment back. Never have worked in AM so cannot properly assess. Would actually love to hear what you like about / debunk the college kid ideology that AM sucks / is boring.
The impression that AM isn't as sexy as acquisition or debt is based in some truth. AM runs in the same circle as property management, which is un-sexy.
You're closer to day-to-day operations/grunt work.
You deal with a lot of lower status people like your vendors (their bosses), construction guys, and small-time tenants; granted, you have "authority" over all of these people, but nothing to brag about. (And with high-value tenants, like the ones that occupy a majority of your building, you don't even have a leg to stand on.)
You're putting out fires, even if at a higher level, like making the decision to replace the $200K failed 50-ton boxcar unit that services your entire first floor.
Leasing analysis is important and benefits from both knowledge and technical skills, but it's also super intuitive and not all that cerebral.
You're answering requests with deadlines from the acquisitions team, such as a deliverable that helps them understand the OpEx of a potential acquisition. Or you're flipping over an operating statement and rent roll so that they can give it to the lender for a refinance.
There are bells when you close on a new property. There's none of the sort when you have to spend capital to save a property or negotiate your way up to the underwritten rents when your starting point is 30% below market.
But AM is what literally brings in money. No else does that. It's the producer for the company. Having AM experience only complements the skills you use in an acquisition position. It'll only make you more dangerous in any position in CRE.
Having done both AM and Acquisitions, I can comfortably say that both have their pros and cons. I think Acq is a little overrated in the pure sense that for some reason everyone thinks acquisitions is this super sexy "front office" position. Sure, you aren't stuck on the same deals for years on end, and sure its super exciting when a new deal falls into your lap. The reality (at least at a junior level) could not be further from the truth. Any monkey can plug in a 25-unit/month lease up assumption into the model to hit a 5-year exit with a +25% IRR on paper. Moreover, the reality of the job is that day-to-day you're just plugging and chugging assumptions into the same cookie cutter model. Or perhaps just running an infinite number of sensitivities that your MD wants you to run. Plus, the back half of the work is just updating the same IC PowerPoint template with BatchGeo maps. This all happens before DD even starts, and don't get me started on DD. The DD process is admittedly important, but is laborious and dry.
On the flip side, AM is where the valuation creation and deal execution happens. It takes real skill and creativity to be able to execute a reasonable lease-up by being able to push a management team while also not blowing the bank on opex. Also, AM is where you actually need to understand the docs. The acq team simply talks with counsel through every "what-if" scenario, but the AM team are the ones that actually have to negotiate and manage partnership level decisions within the confines of the docs. The cons here are the AM does have its handful of laborious and basically admin level work. Whether putting together reports for LPs or simply whatever slew of internal reports your senior level people want.
This is all a long winded way of saying that the debate between which is better is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Though the apparent "hate" that AM gets is also highly unwarranted. To each their own, yin and yang.
Associate 1
5 years experience post college
120k base, first year at current company but assuming bonus around 20%
HCOL area
People can hate on AM if they want but great place to be in the current market cycle
Awesome, thanks for sharing! There's certainly the job security to offset whatever being (potentially) underpaid.
I work 40 hours and never on weekends so I like the lifestyle element of it
Your base doesn't seem that out of market, but strange you aren't seeing a bonus. That is super atypical of re/finance.
My company somewhat prides itself on giving a (arguably) high base. I do get a bonus but it's negligible ($5k) which is why I left it out... still probably a bit strange for finance though huh.
Honestly, that is where I would focus if I was you. As AM, you have direct responsibility for results. You should get some incentive pay to do the best you can.
Not a GP but I was interviewing for an AM position a while back. I have about 4 years experience. The base + bonus all-in was like $80k-$95k, depending on where the offer would have come in at (did not receive offer, but thankfully tbh). I thought it was very low compared to what I have been making, and would have only taken the offer due to the current market and being unemployed.
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