WFH in Real Estate
At this point what functions and sorts of companies within real estate offer full WFH and which offer decent hybrid options (1-2 days a week in the office)? I know it is less widespread than other fields.
It is 100% dependent on what the owner of the firm and/or your immediate boss want. I could do my job 100% at home, 100% at the office, or anywhere in between. I'm 100% in the office because my boomer boss doesn't want to be home with his wife during the day. I have friends who only come into the office when they feel like it (which is never.) It's a complete dice roll.
This has been my experience as well.
My firm is primarily involved in office investing and the initial reaction to COVID was full-time in-office but it has since relaxed to hybrid. We had a really hard time retaining back office staff if forced to work in office full time.
Has even your own firm’s movement towards hybrid changed your investment thesis / how you think about your portfolio? I’ve heard of some office investors who still think people will completely come back and that hybrid is a fad
Full time in the office for this exact reason ^
I only go in when my MD is there. He’s traveling most the time so I’m probably in there 3-4 days a week.
Full WFH checking in, and I never intend on returning to the office full time. I would look into areas of RE that are not dependent on other people returning to the office (multifamily, for instance and not class A office buildings). I think this is also going to be very company and group specific. You can have multiple companies doing the same thing but with different "in-office" requirements.
There are few jobs that truly necessitate being in the office. Hopefully we see more broad acceptance of WFH in the coming years, for some of us it makes a world of difference in our quality of life.
Offices in which teams are larger, where there is a large regional/national footprint, and especially significant recent turnover are likely to allow some sort of flexibility if not full on you choose pending what you bring to the table. It tends to vary by segment of the industry/function. Underwriting roles at regional/national banks seem pretty flexible these days, as do general service providers or outsourcing of underwriting, asset management, securitization, other analysis, etc.
I work in the SF Bay Area and the return to office is zilch.
the only people who mandate a return to office are brokers who want to see their lackeys make OMs and schedule meetings in person.
i only go in for happy hours / networking.
I work from home 2 days a week- mondays and fridays. Working 5 days a week remotely is great but if I have to settle for hybrid, glad it's mondays and fridays for me. You know how fridays can often be where you will dip early anyway even if you are the office, so why even go to the office then? Why the facade and the optics? And for that optics do you really have to dress up, commute to work? Is your time really that worthless? So many other more meaningful ways to spend that time. If you are going to the office 5 days a week when you do not want to and are not switching jobs that will allow you to have flexibility with work from home, that is some real wage slave mentality. This is coming from someone who used to work 5 days a week in the office, heck when I started my career, I even used to wear a tie to work lol. So, I have been there and experienced that culture so I have that lived experience. I now work at a super laid back place, while the official mandate is 3 days in the office, honestly it is not that strict as this week I am fully remote. Seriously, we are all grown adults here, we need some base level of respect trust and freedom. And best part is I am not even sacrificing any income or upward mobility. That is a scare tactic.
I agree with this for you. But all the new intern and analysts that are doing things fully or mostly remote are going to be very very far behind.
First few years I learned the most just being around my boss. I think this is part of the reason why it's so hard to find a half decent analyst these days.
Agreed 100%. I see the value with in person trainings when you are new analyst. I dont even see anything wrong with them being at the office 5 days a week though I think 3 might be fine. The senior analysts and maybe the associates can be there with them 3-5 days a week so that they can all learn together. Senior (not talking about 10-15+ years of experience but I will even include 5+years experience as well) folks can be there 1-3 days a week if they want. I really do not see a point in everyone regardless of seniority and position going back to the office 5 days a week.
Thanks for this input. Being pretty new to the field I have not seen any development focused remote roles. Mostly acquisitions and AM. For WFH I am 100 percent willing to jump to another real estate track/function
In Dev can confirm. As much as I enjoy working home, sitting in the same room with the team for most of the day still helps give you the best understanding of all the ongoing decisions and hurdles throughout a project.
I feel WFH 100% of when you want is for more senior people. I'm a few years into the industry and think it's a lazy mindset to want to wfh if you're 0-5 years in the industry. If you have a family it's different, but where did this mindset come from after covid. Maybe not everyone has the same aspirations, but if you want to be the best and be very successful you have to sacrifice. Being in the office 100% of the time shouldn't be something to complain about especially if it's not a far commute and you're younger. May be a hot take and I'm young, but those are my thoughts.
We can all agree that some want to be in and some want to be out. Personally, I feel like coming in 2-3 days a week is sufficient. A lot of the time my manager is in long meetings and we barely get to talk. The other senior folks are also probably in meetings or doing something important. So there are days when I come into the office and I’m just like what’s the point?
Although I’m in favor of a hybrid model, I would prefer that firms have a general guideline on which days to be in. Not saying you have to commit to being in a certain number of days but just tell everyone - hey Mondays and Tuesdays are mandatory. All other days are optionals or something like that. Feel like this way you will have majority of people in office on the same day and build some sort of cohesion.
I work for a national company, and HQ is very hybrid, leaning towards mostly WFH, but the branches vary by MD, and mine is all in-person. Definitely blows.
I would take a 50 percent paycut for full wfh
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