Transitioned to a REIT
Hello WSO folks,
So I recently made the decision to join a public REIT (large city, reputable REIT) and have a bit of a dilemma.
My background/experience has been heavily involved in finance over the last ~5-6 years (traditional PE and then Structured Finance - debt/equity placement at a reputable shop). Given my background on the deal side (all of my stints were on the deal team), I was offered an “Acquisitions focused” role, but upon starting I quickly learned that it has absolutely nothing to do with Acquisitions and is more on the corporate / reporting side. I’ve brought this up with Sr Management a few times but it was casually dismissed. I even had a discussion with the C-level exec who hired me regarding the role and was told that I have a very solid understanding of economics, CRE and overall trends and that I shouldn’t be interested in Acquisitions because it’s “too transactional based and misses the bigger picture”.
I am obviously more experienced and interested in the deal side of things, any recommendations on how to approach this dilemma?
Thanks in advance
How long have you been there? Have they more/less confirmed that they have slotted you into a role that doesn't have deal exposure or could it just be a slow time from the deal perspective and you haven't gotten staffed on anything? What's the product type? If you are doing something like net lease, acquisition work is going to be pretty standard/transactional and they may have identified that you have potential to be looking at things from higher-level strategic perspective. They could think that they are doing you a favor. If this is the case, you'll just need to evaluate what you actually want and be completely honest with your manager(s). Is the work actually reporting? Related to above, are you doing FP&A or are you looking at and helping form the firm's acquisition/growth strategy? REITs have unique/potentially complicated capital structures and this can have a significant impact on acquisition strategy. Again, like above, management might think that they are offering you an opportunity to do some higher-level thinking and get better exposure - will need to decide if this is something you want to do.
The bait and switch obviously sucks, so I would just recommend keeping open/honest dialog about what you want to be doing and how that can align with firm's needs. You're far enough along in your career that you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to be doing and how that plays into your long term goals. Sorry if this rambled a bit, but have been in similar situation and these were some of the things I evaluated.
Thanks for the reply.
I’ve been here for almost a year. In terms of reporting, it’s more about public disclosures on our portfolio performance... etc that’s used during earnings calls and in our supplement. We do a fair amount of net lease deals so I can see how it can be viewed as very transactional. However, in anticipation of being on a deal team, I did settle for a much lower comp than what I was previously making.
I would focus more on trying to do what you want/what will help propel your career than on negotiating a big raise to do something you see as a dead-end (unless there is fast track to senior mgmt as someone else mentioned). I would be as open as possible with the people above you about your aspirations and (without making it some sort of "hey you f***ed me with this bait and switch" attack) let them know that you think you are in the wrong role and why you'd rather be doing what you signed up for. Positive outcome could be (1) they move you over, or (2) they convince you that what you are doing right now actually has higher growth potential - worst that happens is you are where you are right now. If that happens, you can move on knowing that this isn't the right place for you.
ha, um, are you fucking serious?
Did you really do your due diligence before joining these guys? Were they explicit about your responsibilities? I can’t imagine someone doing that to me. If they did, I’d be devastated.
Not trying to be discouraging - I’m saying I think you have every right to be upset if that’s the case
Did my DD, everything checked out (plus this is one of the top REITs in the sector, so I couldn’t even imagine them pulling something like this). Went over day to day with all the execs that I interviewed with and it was all consistent with the role description. The job description explicitly outlines Acquisitions as the bulk of the responsibilities. Not much more I could’ve done on the front end
I agree with the other comments. I don’t think people will judge you for leaving after a year if you explain the situation. Just be sure to put a positive spin on it even though it’s not what you wanted
A year in and nothing has changed? You've already been there too long per your situation. Time to leave. Especially if you took a pay cut to join.
Is your firm currently buying anything? Core funds and REITs are known to build up large portfolios of stabilized assets and then taper off new acquisitions and focus predominantly on AM and leasing of their existing properties. Especially if your firm's gameplan is to hold properties essentially into perpetuity.
Yes, we are in heavy acquisition mode (much higher acquisition guidance than that of our peers).
As far as jumping ship, I feel like that’s my last option. Anyone have any luck renegotiating comp beyond a few % increase?
In that case I think you should just start aligning yourself with the acquisitions folks. When I was in a PM role as an Associate that's what I did with the Capital Markets team and ended up playing a pretty big role in a massive cap raise we were doing at the time. It can be hectic when your schedule is already crowded, but whenever you have some extra time walk over to the guys working on Acq and ask to help them out. More often than not they'll be happy to offload some responsibility on you. Sometimes you have to just force your way into what you want to be doing manually. Don't wait for someone to drop an OM in your lap, walk up to the guy working on one and offer to do the underwriting for it or aid in the due diligence.
This is complete BS bait-and-switch. I would start looking elsewhere, unless your current role offers a fast track to upper management.
Sounds a lot like my company. Very much bait and switch, then switch again. Completely different situation than what I thought I signed up for. It was good for the first 6 months then everything changed. No good advice from me since I'm trying to maneuver to where I want to be here but best of luck to you.
This could have just been specific to the REIT I was at, but all Acq/Disp./Develop vs Don't analysis seemed to happen way way up the chain. Most people weren't really consulted as it was part of a bigger picture happening that only few VP+ people had visibility to.
I'd say some REITs/PREITs are acq. focused for those juicy Acq fees but I'd say for the most part those decisions seem to be way up the chain in larger REIT, where it is more an I-Banking portfolio transaction.
Not sure how this ties into my dilemma, can you please elaborate?
He’s saying that at certain REITs, you are just running reports and aren’t included on the discussions / high level analysis around an acquisition. If that’s the case at your REIT, maybe your bosses genuinely think they’re doing you a favor.
At least that was my interpretation of the comment
Corporis minus culpa minus repellendus. Praesentium alias earum explicabo est ipsum quae architecto.
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