I'm interested in learning more about a career move to **multifamily **asset management. I've tried to search but haven't found much on this website.
Curious about:
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Life on the job
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Compensation (I checked out CEL Associates Report but it is difficult to decipher. For example, Top Multifamily Asset Management Executive = $231,600 salary + 77.2% bonus = Total of $410k. How much experience does it take to get to that point? Is that someone with ~15 years experience in their mid to late 30s with a lot more room to grow? Or is this someone in their 50s, essentially meaning this is where you top out? Also, do multifamily AM guys get any carry that is worth mentioning later in their careers?)
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Work/life (I assume this is probably one of the best work/life positions in the CRE world, but can anyone chime in with more details?)
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Best places are to work
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Best place is obviously the GSE, Fannie and Freddie are so much bigger than everyone else in multifamily
Work life balance is awesome, and the pay is among the best in DC area, and you have plenty of exit path if you decided that GSE is boring one day, all the agency lender compete to hire people from GSEs
The GSEs make over a billion every year just by repackaging loans into securities and sell them to the market with treasury guarantee, and it’s extremely profitable that it’s risk adjusted return blows any Wall Street investment bank by miles
Thanks for the reply, but I'm more interested in multifamily asset management from an equity perspective. Like managing the business plan of a funds multifamily assets.
MonkeyWrench
LOL, got a chuckle out of this, thanks bro-heim.
I heard Fannie and Freddie are actually not very good places to start your career. You only get to see a very specific type of underwriting due to the underwriting guidelines of the agencies. Also, you only get to see multifamily. It just sounds like you'll get pigeon-holed... Thoughts?
It's tough. I would say you are better off at trying to get in with a GSE/DUS Lender. But even then, you don't want to be in underwriting for too long.
I spent a year in underwriting and it wasn't the best, but I learned a lot. I transitioned into more a screening job and structuring deals with the mortgage banker. It's alot more fun and I see way more deal flow, access to various equity structures, good operators and the shitty ones. Plus I get to use my UW knowledge when it comes to finding the sausage some of these bankers hide in the models and packages.
Overall, I don't see myself in this role for a significant period of time ( more than 2-3 years) but I would like to jump to an equity group to help with acquisitions/strategy or life co and stay on the debt side.
FNMA and FMCC are the giant gorillas in the MF space, but they are also handicapped in what deals they can do due to the regulations and guidelines.
Work life balance, I guess thats accruate for them? I can never get ahold of my Fannie counterparts after 5PM East Coast time. But my ass is in the office for at least 10 hours a day, usually 11. Can't speak too much on the exit path cause it seems like people leave Fannie only to come back after a short period of time...Also they get decent salaries and shit for bonuses, so not sure about that pay among DC area comment....
I won't even waste time on the last comment....
Bump
I know people who do this or have done this at that level and while I don't know exactly what they make/made I could see it being somewhere in that neighborhood. But that IS a lot if you are not in NY/SF/etc...
Unfortunately I don't know exactly how long it takes to get there; yes, those I mentioned are generally people in their 50s (again these are just the people who I KNOW). I could see it happening in one's 40s, but I am having trouble picturing a multlifamily AM guy in his late 30s with a $232,000 base salary. However, keep in mind I am not in NY and I am not thinking about people at elite PE shops; could be possible at those. That is where I would go if you want the best pay as an asset manager. Maybe Crow Holdings or Walton St or somewhere like that (?).
And yes, work/life balance should be better than basically any other area in the industry.
Keep in mind there are a lot of idiots in multifamily. If you asked this question about office I could see the answer being very different. It's just not as intellectually challenging. I love multifamily but I'll be the first to admit that it's nowhere near as hard as hotels.
Overall: If for some reason you are stuck in multifamily my advice (if you care) is to just get the best job you can, not just AM. AM is not rocket science and you can always move to it later if that rare $400,000+ multifamily AM job opens up near you. And be open to jobs that involve other product types. If there is a 37-year old asset manager with a $232,000 base salary overseeing some apartments, let's be honest, there's a good chance his portfolio includes some other stuff.
The firm I work at has over 48,000 units (owned and managed; mostly class C and B properties in the Midwest), and Asset Managers are pulling in a base of $80k - $95k on average. Profit participation & bonuses are where the real money is at; an AM with 5 years of experience in that role is probably making about $200k - $250k all-in. Average age is probably late 30's to early 40's. Somewhat more time intensive when travelling, but for the most part these guys are probably averaging 40-45 hours a week at the most.
+1 Spent some time at a private shop that has +/- 20k units. Similar profile to above although different geography. AMs fit description above - mid/late 30s, base probably little higher than you quoted. Guy running the AM group might be getting closer to big numbers above. High COL 2ndary market. Work/life balance was pretty good for them as well - 40-45 hours with travel no more than monthly (most of portfolio was on opposite coast from HQ). Mostly manage 3rd party PMs and focus on capital strategy for properties. As prospie said, MF isn't the most intellectually stimulating. Probably related to that, the amount of unsophisticated players controlling a meaningful amount of units and/or capital is pretty unique to the product.
I'm a Sr AM that was in commercial and recently switched to MF. I have just over 2yrs on the job and make about 200k with bonus. I think I'm underpaid for the position but I'm pretty Jr from a MF perspective. I do get to co-invest and they will loan me an equal amount.
How many years of experience did you have before switching to MF?
I came up through Property MGMT side and was a PM for about 8yrs. Then did about 4 years of AM which still had some aspects of PM involved since that firm did in house PM.
Is Multi-Family Asset Management a related field? (Originally Posted: 08/23/2015)
Pardon my ignorance, but I'm looking for internships and I see quite a few for this field. It doesn't directly seem to involve finance that much, and for one of the positions I'm applying for, it seems to consist of a lot of "processing rent adjustments" and "making utility analysis spreadsheets" in Excel. I know that this obviously isn't even close to being REPE, and the role itself will be more BO, but I'm a non target with bad stats currently doing a back office internship, and would appreciate simply getting an internship where I can at least say I did something related to finance. This sounds like it's at least more "embellishable" than my current BO..
Some more info, this firm is partnered with several major accounting/tax companies. They do a lot of "real estate underwriting, compliance , structuring, financing, consulting,etc." Their professionals seem to come from portfolio management backgrounds.
I'm ignorant once again, and don't know what half of that stuff mean. I only know that it's obviously not a fund that invests in real estate. Would having this kind of real estate experience give you any leg up for REPE in the future though?
accidental post sorry
accidental post sorry
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