Greystar Reputation?
Where do people on this forum see this firm? I would say different than Mill Creek or TCR due to their expansive property management and REPE platform. I would also say different than a Related as they are primarily focused on multi, although they have expanded into industrial and life science. Different than a Blackstone as they execute on large corporate level transactions maybe once a year or even less and are much more focused on the asset level. Essentially trying to perceive their market value, if this is a good place to build a career given their growth trajectory and continuous push into different business lines, etc. I guess I would say they are a much younger Hines in the sense that Hines grew up as an office developer and diversified into other asset classes, REPE, etc. Greystar grew up on multifamily and is now similarly diversifying. Would people say Greystar has the same market perception as Hines from an employee standpoint ? Is it as much of a breeding ground for spin-offs as Hines was ?
My friend..... only on WSO would people think so much about this.... Greystar is a very well known, respected firm. How to rate it against Hines, Related, or... Blackstone??? Who knows!!! But who cares......
To answer your question.... YES this could be a great place to build a career.... All firms have their own character, they seem to have a good one from my perspective (known a few people their, including some who got poached from my current firm tbh). Know people at and have been at Hines and Related (fewer at Blackstone tbh), they have goods and bads to say about each, I'm sure similar at Greystar.
I'd guess if you posted a "I started at Greystar AMA" type thread on WSO, you would get few to zero "why would you ever work there?" style questions/posts. I think it fits the top tier "prestige" level for most on the WSO real estate forum (others... feel free to disagree.... but I'd bet solid money many 'prospects' on here would kill for a legit role at Greystar).
Hey, just out of curiosity, would you say the same about Lone Star / Hudson Advisors?
So, tbh, I know much less about Lone Star/Hudson Advisors... I think of them more as classic PE fund style group (and don't know much more). Greystar is a fully vertically integrated owner-operator-developer with full prop mngt in-house. Those are extremely different animals.
Both are household names in their respective worlds, so in terms of the "desirability" from a career/job perspective... sure I'd guess say the same (I mean I have no reason not to).
They literally won 3 PERE awards for 2021 and were named global residential investor of the year in 2020. Not saying these awards are the end all, be all, but why would you listen to the opinion of a bunch of college kids here who can't even differentiate between their strategy and a competitors over the opinion of a well established, trusted news source (granted, those awards are a result of a general voting process so take them with a grain of salt I guess). I'd conservatively say a quarter of the people posting here don't even have full time work experience and know nothing beyond Blackstone and KKR. Furthermore, many of them still won't land gigs at Greystar caliber firms. People need to understand these shops run extremely lean and are extremely difficult to land roles at. These are investment roles where you are actively pushing money out the door and have bosses and investors to answer to. Just as people are careful when they invest in a deal, they are also careful when they choose who they will delegate the responsibility of investing to.
Hey, just out of curiosity, would you say the same about Lone Star / Hudson Advisors?
Greystar is a top firm with great culture
Agree on your comparison between Hines vs Greystar. Hines started as office developer and now (especially in Europe) they are heavily investing on PRS/student housing.
Greystar, on the other hand, may be smaller than Hines in terms of AUM, but their leadership in "living" assets is worldwide recognized. If you have the chance to join Greystar do it, definitely a great place.
Also, if I may add, I think it's way more interesting to work for a developer (like Hines/Greystar) rather than a typical LP (including large REPEs), as you are directly involved in basically everything (scouting, underwriting, due diligence). LPs just give you money and ask questions.
Absolutely agree with this. I was at a Hines / Greystar type firm before moving to REPE, you learn so much more being at an owner-operator and have access to extremely helpful resources globally given the scale of the firms. Various in house knowledge experts on particular points such as design, construction, technology etc, very well staffed capital raising teams, growing levels of discretionary funds, very comprehensive support infrastructure. Playing across the risk spectrum and associated services allows them to create stable sources of income for the down periods vs. the likes of smaller merchant build developers. Would be a great place to start your career.
What made you move over to REPE? Were you in their development team or acquisitions team?
Greystar’s brand trajectory has grown leaps and bounds over the past decade. I wrote in another post that there is little in the way of stopping them from being the top shop for vertically integrated multifamily investment and development platform. If they are going into other product types then I’m confident they will excel.
With that said, their property management is winning deals and I don’t see anyone catching up with them there in terms of scale (they acquired Riverstone in 2014, then the #2).
The Greystar brand will continue to become a household name. Even with laypersons (via Greystar managed apartments).
I think what makes Greystar successful are a few things:
- roots in the Trammel Crow Residential model of hiring entrepreneurial, typically MBA/Master’s educated MD’s to build markets (typically acquisitions mind-skillsets), but with the backing of the Greystar organization. That is a good alignment of start up and established company. Bucks the long-standing “you must have grey hairs to lead” culture that CRE used to be dominated by.
- I think the growing brand attracts more and more top talent. The platform is growing so there are more top jobs (MD, Senior MD) to dole out. And the size of the projects/deals, on the GP side is substantial and people are onboard for that to make a career. The long period of the projects, locks in the talent. The platform is so broad geographically that your desire to live anywhere could be met.
- while Chicken-and-Egg, Greystar benefited greatly from the long term trend of disintermediation in CRE, and having the right platform at the right time. And they’ve executed. Their big moves globally can only happen programmatically and with global investors - the sources of funds that power the investment management world. By being really good at portfolio management/big picture and then executing on national and regional levels, do you get to see what Greystar has accomplished. I’m going to guess, global investors have goals and Greystar is good at anticipating what their current and future goals will be - and voila Greystar is positioned to be the go-to. They act like a nimble company with a huge platform, that’s hard to beat.
So the brand, ok you can ride it. But what do you think you are going to get from the experience?
I’d sum it up in two words: Push You. While not unlike other high performing firms, Greystar is not a place that you can fall into a trance and get comfortable. There is simply too much growth, improvement, adjacencies, challenging, bar raising, competition from peers and below. Personality wise Bob Faith is very different from his former business partner Barry Sternlicht (Starwood), and I’m guessing here, but the DNA of Greystar is smart, hard working, cordial with a Southern charm, dependable, thorough, and do the right thing. I think this ethos goes well with public fund managers of global capital, who tend to be really good people.
The challenge for Greystar is to retain that culture, down to the regions. Whether the newer generation maintains that “Charleston balance” (keeping the HQ there should help) is yet to be seen.
It’s been great watching the company do well and ESPECIALLY getting the attention of you ambitious monkeys.
I have a lot of friends that work there. Their getting tons of responsibility early on and exposure to top capital partners. Hours don’t seem bad and they all love the culture. It is a great place to learn. This should be all you need to know.
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