Can anyone share information on working in asset management in Greystar? Is this team as prestigious as acquisitions / development in the company? How is comp? Lifestyle? Learning and development opportunities? I may want to apply for an MBA (top 10), how would asset management in Greystar be looked at for this? What kind of personalities excel in AM? Any other information anyone could share would be much appreciate, thanks in advance!
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They are a very solid group. Honestly the AM position with them is probably worth more than an MBA if your goal is to stay in the multifamily space.
Thanks for the reply. Is AM in real estate considered as prestigious as acq, development and portfolio management? Is comp in line with those? If I wanted to move into acquisitions or development later would that be an easy transition?
I wouldn't say it is more or less prestigious. And yes it's easy to move between acquisitions and AM, but development is a completely different animal. If your goal is to build a career in the multifamily sector, I would strongly consider the Greystar role as they are one of the top owners.
Greystar is a great name in the multifamily space, don't get caught up in the BS "prestige chasing" between AM/acq/dev that is so popular on this forum, especially if you're early in your career. You'll learn a lot and have a great name on your resume, period. I think that getting AM experience is valuable even if you eventually pivot (especially to acquisitions), as you'll have a much more nuanced understanding of operations and be able to underwrite more effectively. Also gives you great relationships with property management folks.
For what it's worth, by the way, portfolio/fund management in RE is not prestigious and is more often than not a glorified FP&A position. I got suckered into a PM role promising all sorts of high-level work and needless to say, I was completely underwhelmed. Running a fund does not equal actively managing a portfolio of investments.
Greystar is a big name in multifamily-if not one of the biggest.
Not sure what you mean, admission people at MBAs even M7 won't even know the difference between acq vs AM in real estate. All it is is RE investing. So what you do almost doesn't matter, it's how you write it up in your essay and how it alligns to your goal etc...
Might want to lose the prestige mindset. Not applicable concept in RE. Yes, your school matters, but there are TONS of people making it to the top at "prestigious" firms just by having common sense, sharp minds and great people skills (can't stress enough the people skills part). It's a simple business, you build a box, you put people in the box, you collect rents and solve problems along the way - ain't going to take "prestigious" people to do that and nobody gives a shit about your pedigree if you went to Harvard and still act like a dork.
ACQ and AM decision should be based on your personality traits. If you're a deal junkie and want to grind, do ACQ. If you're a problem solver with operational efficiency mindset, do AM/Portfolio Mgmt. Pay on a 10-year average will be the same. At an institutional level, there is no more acquisitions fee (least in my experience working in this industry past 10 years) - that means ACQ share the pool of carry with everyone else in the company.
I'd be wary about knowing what exactly that AM role entails. AM means a lot of things in RE and varies company to company. If it is 50% reporting, you ain't going to learn jack - same goes if you work as a junior ACQ person and spend all day behind the computer crunching a bunch of fake numbers onto a model. You want to be involved in the investment process, learn how people do deals, justify investment decisions, meet deal participants from outside your company (investors, lawyers, architects, brokers, property manager). Those relationship are extremely crucial to have if you want to have a long career in this industry.
Thanks, really helpful, are there some questions I can ask that would help reveal how high level the work will be?
Obviously you can ask what are day to day look like.
Ask them other things like, what are markets I'll be covering, how active is the acquisition pipeline, how active are big capex/renovation projects, what is the fund structure (ie, is it closed/open ended, seperate account), Greystar is huge so they may have all sorts of funds - but ask which one will you be working mostly on. Ask how the the team is structured, who you report to, what that person does and figure how you play in the team. You want to get a feel that the company is active, spend billions a year and that there are tons of investments you can try to be a part of.
I'm not sure what your skill sets are, and how they perceive what you bring to the team. At a junior level, there will have to be some desktop work involved, just make sure you're not stuck doing that all the time. Same goes for acquisitions analysts, it'll be a dead end career if all they do is "modeling", that stuff can be done with a napkin. But you want to be pro active once you're there to be on the front line shaking hand with people in the industry.
Greystar is highly respected name. Not sure how (or why...) to rate "prestige" of acq/dev vs. am (frankly, that is something you will see amongst uni students and on WSO...). Really cant see why a person wouldn't be very happy to land a role like this.
As for MBA admissions.... they have no f'ing clue what AM does or Acq or anything that detailed. Just getting a job that seems like from a legit firm works, Greystar will more than pass that test.
All these questions, like huh? Take the role dude!
I mean, shit, I'll take it. No questions asked. This is one of those roles where you can literally coast your career if you don't care about being in acquisitions or whatever.
And yes, I am at that point already at 25.
Thanks, can you expand on that? Why would you be able to coast your whole career?
Personal choice but AM usually is less stressful than acquisitions and if you as an asset manager really know your shit, you will never be out of a job. Plus most those roles work 50 hours/week tops and the pay gap, as someone mentioned, has narrowed.
But I say "coast" from the perspective of someone who's on a highly functioning debt/equity team and has been getting grinded the last 2 years. Always thought acquisitions was the promised land, but now I could easily see myself in AM not giving two fucks about acquisitions down the road.
I’m going to make my firm Gaystar asset management
Hmm, username checks out
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