I am currently an associate with a small REPE ($1B AUM) and was contacted by the big developers for an associate role. How feasible is going from acquisitions to a dev role at an associate level? This is a cradle to the grave role so I’d still do acquisitions.
Also what is lifestyle like at a big dev firm (Hines, Related, etc.)? The recruiter said budget was $300k+ which also seems high, but it is in T1 city. Any insight or advice?
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Disregard the first question, I've read up a bit on what I could find through searching around the forum, but does anyone have any insight on these big developers? I don't see as many posts on developer positions and what it's like to work at the big development companies.
Hines and related aren't cradle to grave, they work on mostly larger scale assets taking many years. Greystar and Trammell Crowe are more cradle to grave. $300k all in seems a little much for these developers for associate since it's usually $110-$150k base with 15%-40% bonus so the recruiter might be blowing some smoke
Recruiter said it's 100% bonus and specifically that it was a cradle to grave and it said so in the JD from the company. My guess is $300k+ is for the best of the best, and more likely the actual offer would be $250k-$300k.
I will note that $300k for an associate (or even sr. associate) sounds very high (good for you if you can get it, unless some odd catch). Did they break out how much was split into salary/bonus/long-term? Like is it 1/3, 1/3, 1/3rd? That typically comes later on (higher up titles) but maybe this firm starts it early. I know you wouldn't make that as an associate at my firm, even in a T1 city office!
As to lifestyle... I'd be hesitant to generalize. I'll say those based in NYC can be very "finance-like" with very long hours, heavy "silo-ing", and just overall not the greatest work environment for early stage employees, like how all NYC based finance/real estate firms treat "juniors" lol (this may or may not be based in part from a friend of mine who worked at Related and their general "rep", but I've heard similar stories about RXR/Silverstein and even much smaller NYC based developers). Even more interesting is how these firms can be regionally set-up and thus have very different cultures and even structures by regional office (okay.. yes I'm talking about Hines!).
In general, development firms (and even regional offices and individual developer teams) are far more unique and hard to pin down in terms of culture, work style, or even duties assigned at each title (and of course for pay and progression), when say compared to major I-Banks and Private Equity firms. Each development firm sets in own tone, at least is how it feels to me.
I appreciate the insight, this is very helpful. I thought $300k was high too. This is in SF, which I know can be similar to NYC culture for RE. I work in SF now as an associate and I'm pretty far below what they are offering, so I'm trying to get more details. My biggest fear is the learning curve. I came into RE after my MBA, and did banking in a different industry prior, so I only have about 3 true years of RE and it's all been acquisitions based. I don't want to leave my position and them become a non-contributor, but I do like the aspects of development the more I dig in.
It is one of the major developers (Related, Hines, Brookfield), do these firms typically have a tougher culture? I know you had mentioned that dev firms are not consistent by office since they have regional offices, but just out of curiosity. Also, do you know how comp progresses at these bigger firms?
Well... maybe there is SF premium right now? I mean, I sure as hell wouldn't want to move there (no offense, I'm in NYC area, so can debate if better lol). As to learning curve... I think you will be fine! Development is not all that complex and those firms all have deep support and plenty of resources, you may even find it "easier" in some respects. If you WANT to do development, then do it! If you rather stay in the equity fund world, I'm sure you can move up and around if you want (that said, the three firms you reference are HARD to get a job with, so if you turn this down if offered, you may regret...)
And yes, I think all three names you reference are hard-charging, high-performance type shops. They hire "elite" types and I'd suspect want such performance (everyone I've known who has worked at those three firms I would classify as "hardos"). They also churn tons! (especially Brookfield and Related, or at least for people in my network who went to work for those two.. Hines seems to have better longevity, just an observation from literally people I know who worked there or used to!). So, is that "tougher"? Totally subjective, but this not lounge around, casual Friday type business. Note, have very little insight into the SF offices of these, my firm doesn't have an SF office, and it's far from my personal sphere.
Comp progressions.... eh, don't know anything about that for those firms (or really anything except at places I've worked tbh). My general belief is that you need to get promoted to get legit step-ups in development. Like get to development manager to get big bump and higher up to get carry/promote/long-term. Development shops are less likely than say banks or PE firms to just give big 10/20% raises just because you are awesome. Development tends to bump with added duties/responsibilities (or upgrades in project size/complexity). This can vary a lot by firm, so take it as my personal belief!
I wouldn't worry about the learning curve, they know what your background is. there will almost certainly be trained architects and engineers on your staff that will help you through the more technical parts of development.
Yup this seems like related sf maybe, Hines sf is low like 120k with 30% but they do a lot of cradle to grave stuff throughout the Bay Area
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