REPE Acquisition/Development Career Milestones

Hey guys, in the spirit of self-improvement during this Covid-19 madness, I am doing some reflecting on my career and identifying which experiences/skills I have and which I am missing at this point as an associate. I am wondering what are the essential skills/experience that you guys had before each increase in rank/title/responsibility (going from Analyst to Associate, Senior Associate, VP etc). Also would be interesting to know the generally pay bump at each of these I know the titles vary from shop to shop but I am hoping to get a general sense of what changes at each of these milestones.

For myself, my current responsibility as an associate looks something like this: • Underwrite new multifamily acquisition and development opportunities in Microsoft Excel • Evaluate and assist in the execution of renovation programs for existing multifamily assets • Research market fundamentals, demographics and comparable properties to support revenue and expense assumptions in underwriting • Prepare investment memos and supporting analysis for board review • Coordinate with local municipalities, brokerage groups, vendors and strategic partners to evaluate new and existing opportunities • Support disposition, development and asset management process

Contribution Highlights • Created new processes to track lease-up in new multifamily developments • Currently coordinating a renovation plan to reposition a legacy multifamily asset • Revamped acquisition underwriting model and process to include additional return metrics and assumption sensitivities • Assisted in rezoning process to allow higher level of usage at a retail site • Introduced the deal team to a local brokerage group which has created a new pipeline of opportunities

Software: Costar, Yardi Voyager, Microsoft Excel

And as for my comp increase, I joined my current group as an acquisition and development associate after working for a global repe firm as a research analyst so the increase isn't quite apples to apples.

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I would say that progressing beyond associate to whatever the next rank is (manager, VP, or whatever) will likely involve getting management and/or client/investor/public facing responsibilities. You are moving up because you can handle the responsibilities of leadership and doing deals, not just because you are an awesome analyst/associate.

I think managers/vps should have a bigger network, be more known in the industry (at least locally), and be able to bring in some business. Thus, getting a leadership role in a local or national trade group would be very smart (like NAIOP/ULI/etc.). I would also want to be more 'worldly' and 'well read'. Can you have a long, meaningful conversation with the CEO and the investors? Think about those in those roles and what they do, how they act, etc. Build skills from that model.

 

Thanks this is pretty helpful. I will certainly pursue more leadership opportunities in trade groups and seek out more leadership opportunities at my company. In regards to new business, I have a pretty strong network in the region which I've used to present new opportunities to my current company. Our group however is generally reluctant to pursue new business from leads outside of the company's existing deal sources. Not sure if this is typical to the family office or not. There have been a few great off-market opportunities that fit our investment parameters where I was able to get an early lead. It seems like since the opportunity was coming from myself as an associate and not one of the go-to brokers that we get our deals from that no one really thought it was real. This has happened more than a few times. How should I go about pursuing opportunities like this, and thus building a reputation for bringing in great deals, without the ability to sign CAs or NDAs when my group is apprehensive to new deal sources?

 

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