Compensation By Experience
As all real estate development and investment shops are different, I am curious to hear what everyone’s thoughts are on compensation on the development acquisition side based on years of experience. I currently have 3 years of dev and acquisition work and just took a role in a CBD at 95k+25% bonus. Wondering thoughts on below:
1-2 years experience- 58k-70k + 10% bonus
3-5 years experience- 75k-100k + 20% bonus
5-7 years experience- 100k-125k + 25% bonus
7-10 years experience- 125k-150k + 30% bonus
10-15 years experience- 150k-200k + 40% bonus
15+ years experience- 200k-400k + 50% bonus and participation in deals
is this realistic or market today? Thoughts?
Not on the principal side, but the first two lines are pretty accurate, at least in my case. Bonus may be a bit higher but that's because I'm in production.
I think you have the right idea but it's overly generalized. First of all, in a major market all of those numbers are low. Second, there are more intricacies within the tiers - like someone with 3 years of experience making $100k + 20% bonus + % of pref or someone else with 3 years making $100k + 50% bonus.
Finally, while the 1st and 2nd tier are far more predictable, once you get to the 5 year mark it really depends on where you work, what your personal progression looks like, etc.
So, I won't really comment on your table of estimates other than to say, sure it's possible. Still, a lot can vary based on market and deal size/type. Do bigger projects in bigger cities get paid more than the opposite, and those differences will get larger at each level/stage of a career.
The big part missing here is the relevance of promotions (rank) and level of responsibility, which are certainly likely to be correlated with tenure/experience, but less so at that circa 10+ year mark. At some point, your skills/abilities especially in the leadership and deal making realm can overpower time by a lot. Some people are worthy of big promotions sooner, some take time or never, and that makes big differences in pay at the end of the day.
Also, I think the structure of Base + Bonus + Long-term can kick-in much earlier than 15+ years, but that varies tons firm by firm (based on structure and use of capital). Final thought, you should expect substantial annual variation in those bonuses and long-term payouts the higher up you go. I.e., at associate level you may get a bonus that varies 15 to 20%, and won't change much from good to bad year (notwithstanding outliers). Once your bonus "potential" get's into that 50%+ range, I'd guess it can move around a lot based on yearly success and/or timing of deals.
Fuck it this is fun. This is rough guidelines for institutional acquisitions in a LA/NYC market:
1-2 years experience(analyst)- 75k-100k + 30-60% bonus
3-5 years experience(associate)- 100k-150k + 50-100% bonus
5-7 years experience(Vp/director)- 150k-200k + 75-100% bonus
Should be in the ballpark, 5-7 range can be higher. I am unsure of the market after this level since its where carry and equity become a huge component of comp, but the general trend should continue.
For reference I am a first year acquisitions analyst out of undergrad. Comp should be in 120-130 figure all in this year. All figures above are from speaking with colleagues and friends within the industry in similar roles.
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