What would be a good estimate for compensation for an analyst at a major metro REIT?
Specifically on the acquisitions/development side of things.
a) are bonuses a thing?
b) what can be expected in a base salary?
c) if it is on the low end of the range, should I counter - will I be successful in doing so?
Here's the problem, I received an offer from a smaller firm for $79k + ~15% bonus is this high, or about right?
I like the potential firm a lot better, but I am seeing that the range is 53-81k with only 9 respondents and it was last updated nearly 3 years ago.
Is it likely there will be wiggle room in the offer if it is closer to the 53k?
Top 5 city
The comp isn't everything but typically you see more and get more experience/knowledge at a smaller shop. If they are paying you more to boot, then that to me is the better offer to take. Bigger REIT's have very rigid structures for comp and career progression, and because of the investment profile they typically deal with, there's a possibility you don't get carry/participation until the very late stages of the game, if at all. IMHO you're better served cutting your teeth at the small shop in the early/junior career stages, then banking some dough and lateraling into one of the bigger shops at the VP+ level rather than fighting through the ranks to get promoted internally.
It's doable but again, in my opinion/experience this is sort of backwards (but others may disagree). The real compensation at the REIT level comes when you get a fee % for acquisitions that you execute while the senior deal person in a market. In very rare cases you can get carry/participation, but I know for a lot of the larger REIT's they don't get this unless they are one of the top-top/near-c-level types, and the acquisition fee is the real juicy component of the comp. In my opinion this is better than the carry at a normal REPE shop just because you get paid as the deal is done and it's not dependent on performance down the road. You have the potential at late stage REPE positions to make a ton of money on the carry/promote/participation, but in a lot of cases you have to wait on the performance of the deal and you're subject to things outside of your control that dictate your comp. This is true for any job, but I think it's exacerbated by the differences in structure I just outlined on the REPE side.
So TL;DR version, cut your teeth at a lean private shop/operator/REPE fund as a large contributor on a small team, get good experience there, then move to a REIT as a senior person and reap the rewards rather than try to get promoted within REIT while competing with 20+ other analysts in the same region.