Working in corporate real estate development
I have been looking at corporate real estate development roles. Apple, Google, Wegmans etc. does anyone know what are comps like in these roles and are they a good place to start out a career in ?
My wife works in one of these roles. Happy to answer any questions you may have.
In general, while a normal "developer" may work on say 1-4 deals at a time, so an inch wide but a mile deep, my wife's position is more an inch deep but a mile wide, if that makes sense. She works on hundreds of deals a year, but only does 2-3 things for each. What would be considered a "developer's responsibilities" at a standard shop at her company is like 7 different people, each having to work together, coordinate their different points of view, and present to a committee. A lot of times, they don't agree and have counterintuitive incentive structures, which she has to navigate.
She gets paid very good money, but it isn't without its headaches. Getting yelled at by store managers constantly and having to just take it, lots of travel, cult-like corporate environment, etc. A few times a year she talks about quitting, but then she gets promoted and recognized for being awesome, which she enjoys, so she sticks with it.
I would say that it is not a good place to start a career in if you want to eventually transition to a more traditional development role, because your day to day will be so foreign to how non-corporate real estate works, but on the other hand, good lord can you make a good living for yourself if you excel in a corporate role.
This is very helpful thank you, can you tell me how comps work. I am assuming that carry and promote is not a thing here ?
She gets a base salary + company profit share. It’s probably like 0.0000000001% or something, but it’s double her salary. The scale has tipped more toward profit share the higher she’s climbed - earlier in her career the salary part was much more meaningful.
I started out my first 2 years post college as a real estate rep at a store like McDonalds. Currently work for a large developer of all asset classes.
In the corporate real estate world, there's a difference between companies that develop in house and those that use preferred developers and lease the land.
If you work for a company that buys, designs, builds, and develops in house, you can make the transition to normal development easily like I did.
If you work for a company that uses a preferred developer and only leases, it would be much harder.
CRE hit most of it on the head, I had over 200+ sites I was looking at and traveling constantly. Feel free to DM me but some pros and cons I can quickly think of
Pros:
1. WLB great besides travel, typically no one has a huge ego.
2. Negotiating in a position of power always. (we don't need the site, can go a block over etc, we will only close with xyz etc., we want to buy this just so Burger King can't go here)
3. Get to learn negotiating, develop relationships with mayors, politicians, brokers, - great for networking.
4. Get the whole construction and design process with city and internal teams.
Cons:
1. Bonus not tied to personal performance, but rather the company
2. Can't make any major decisions without going to committee
3. Finding yourself in middle of Kansas on a Tuesday afternoon.
Quaerat mollitia nihil itaque earum a occaecati perferendis. Adipisci repellat nisi minima aliquam minus maxime autem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...