Hi All -
My wife & I are thinking of relocating to Philly from NYC. We are trying to figure out how much of a pay cut we would take, if any, by relocating. It’s been much harder to find this information than I thought. Does anyone have insight into VP of Acquisitions and/or Development compensation in Philadelphia?
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Why Philly? Just curious… not a comparable city to nyc at all imo (grew up in Philly area initially but parents are from Manhattan)
Totally.
(1) My wife is from Philly. So we have parents there to help with our kid(s). (2) It’s a much cheaper cost of living. So if/when one of us starts our own company, we can survive off one salary. (3) And finally, much easier commute. Coming into Manhattan from Westchester or NJ/LI can be an hour long + commute if you don’t work near Penn Station or Grand Central. So it is an easier lifestyle.
Once you have kids, it becomes very hard to take advantage of the city (NYC) itself - so comparing the two cities is very hard. Going out now is a $500 night - babysitter/uber home for babysitter/dinner & drinks/uber too and from dinner. So we are just looking for an easier commute lifestyle and lower cost of living lifestyle.
Don't have a lot of data points for you, but comp will definitely be lower. I don't think many RE professionals in Philly are above $200k in base salary, most people making more than that are making good commissions or promote payouts. I know a couple VP/Director level people that I'm pretty sure are around ~$150-$175k.
That said, not only is philly significantly lower COL than NYC, but the work culture is way more laid back, so comp may not actually be much lower on a $/hour basis. Pretty much everybody in CRE in philly outside a few groups is working ~40 hours a week and going to the shore by 2pm on summer fridays.
Thank you. Ya I am assuming base will top out. And it does so in NYC as well. But probably at ~$250K base if you’re at an institution. The rest comes in promote/fee share/etc.
We are happy to take a pay cut because it will be better from COL. Also, people don’t always think about this - but as you get older in NYC and you start a family, it generally means leaving Manhattan for the suburbs. This means commuting. Unless you work at Grand Central or Penn Station - your commute is going to be over an hour each way after train transfers etc. For all the monkeys who want to start a business - you’re going to be doing it at 5 AM and 8 PM to begin. Not having that hour plus commute plus a lower COL will make it much easier. So for me, happy to take a pay cut to be able to leave for work at 830 AM and get there at 9. Similar to my current commute. Plus get to work on my own business from 6-8 AM as opposed to getting on the train at 730 AM to get to work at 845 AM.
If you think the same does not apply to Philly, I have some bad news for you.
Will +1 to Puddings comment
Just something to add, housing in Philadelphia is ridiculously inexpensive. At my old firm, plenty of people had their own little portfolio of housing in addition to where they lived
Yup. This is the goal. Due to lower costs - my wife and I can save more. And eventually life off one salary while we get our business off the ground. Can also take our current savings and invest it. Much easier to do so in a lower COL city.
Can confirm that Philly housing is inexpensive relative to other big markets. And a lot of the housing stock is older and thus provides opportunity to force appreciation with some renovation. That’s what one of my buddies did. There’s also a 10-Year tax abatement for owners and developers in the city that is well utilized by new homeowners. But Philly also has its standard City problems: crime, homelessness, City tax, etc.
In terms of comp, I think the VPs at my firm were pulling in $225-$250 all in. 300k probably when times were good in 2021. $165-175 base and the rest in bonuses and carry.
Can confirm that Philly housing is inexpensive relative to other big markets. And a lot of the housing stock is older and thus provides opportunity to force appreciation with some renovation. That’s what one of my buddies did. There’s also a 10-Year tax abatement for owners and developers in the city that is well utilized by new homeowners. But Philly also has its standard City problems: crime, homelessness, City tax, etc.
In terms of comp, I think the VPs at my firm were pulling in $225-$250 all in. 300k probably when times were good in 2021. $165-175 base and the rest in bonuses and carry.
How bout dem Eagles?
Ugh! That’s how I feel.
Dude stop. It hurts.
I’d echo the “fewer seats” comment about Philly. But there is still a meaningful number of institutional real estate firms in the Philly area.
If you don’t need/want to be downtown and are comfortable in the suburbs (it’s even lower COL and a good public school system) you should consider Bucks county/Yardley area for instance. That is not more than a 15-20min drive to NJ Transit in Trenton. There’s plenty of folks that live there and still do 2 or 3 days in office in Manhattan. It’s a decent middle ground where door-to-door into Manhattan via the train is ~2hrs while maybe 50min to an hour to get to center city Philly.
As far as the comp question is concerned…it will be lower. If I had to guess, maybe 20-30% lower on average (obviously some exceptions to that). The culture is much more laid back. Many firms in Philly have summer hours, 2 or 3pm on Fridays (even for analyst level positions which is nice).
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