5+ years in REPE, doing very well but interested in potentially moving to development as I think it’d be better hands on experience to learn the real estate side and eventually start working on my own solo deals.
Two questions:
I know the pay is likely lower, but in a city like Dallas what could I be looking at base/bonus for Development with my experience?
I’m a senior associate from a BB REPE firm, could I land a higher VP-level job while making that lateral?
Thanks.
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Hi Associate 3 in RE - Other, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
More suggestions...
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
No way you're lateraling into a VP position in development unless you're joining their acquisitions team (in which case you're just going to be doing the same thing you are now but will gain a bit of an understanding of the budgeting and entitlements process).
You're going to take a haircut both in pay and almost definitely in title making a lateral at a senior associate level if you want to do real development work (i.e. be involved after buying the dirt - in project management, leasing, marketing, etc.). Expect to pick up an Associate role, maybe stay at Senior Associate if you're lucky, and you'll almost definitely be the finance guy on the team for at least the first year or two before you really start to get to touch anything else.
At this point in your career, if you want to get into a role that's closer to the assets I'd look at either moving to a smaller owner/operator where the acquisitions team also does asset management work, or make a full lateral to asset management to really learn the ropes of operating a property. Trying to move to a true development role from senior associate is going to be tough IMO.
my two cents... first a note... the title is more commonly "Development Manager" as opposed to VP, but means same thing, next rank after associate. (VP in a devco can be more like MD or so, meaning 15+ years exp for a lot of firms).
Lateralling or just jumping over to real estate development from close fields like an REPE firm, brokerage, or similar is very doable, but getting promoted simultaneously can be difficult if that role really needs prior dev mngt exp. The common exceptions are when you get a role similar to your background at the devco (like fin-acq, cap markets, etc.). But, in general I'd expect to be brought on as a development associate (for sure what would happen at my firm, associates can have 5 yrs exp in dev at time of hire), and if you are trying to learn life-cycle development, then this may be better than specialized role with promotion (personal judgment call tbh). Also, don't expect your experience at a BB type firm to mean tons in development, it's a different world, it will be respected for sure, but I doubt any will view it as making you uniquely qualified for development just because.
As for pay, and for Dallas no less, hard for me to guess. I'd guess a base in the range of $120-150k would be reasonable (associate rank assumed), bonus could be 25-75% of that on top. May get participation in carry or other long-term comp deal, but really need to be higher up the large orgs to have any shot of that.
That is a final point, if you go to a smaller/entrepreneurial shop, you may get better title and/or bonus/promotes from day 1. How they will view you as a candidate is totally random, some will love your background, so flat out won't. Good luck!
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