I see these guys posting from time to time on the cornell-baker board.
What kind of shop are they exactly? What is their reputation? Analyst/Associate comp? Exit ops? Would you want to work there, etc?
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interviewed with them a year or two ago, like 3 or so man shop at the time. seem to make investments in northern manhattan in outer boroughs. I'd imagine exit ops are limited to multi-family shops only and doubt comp is very competitive, but that was my sense when I met them. Nice guy though. Just my two cents.
what was your interview like?
interviewed with them about a year ago. like the person above said, small 4 person shop with an emphasis on multifamily.
caveat here is they acquire rent-stabilized deals in NYC. because its a small shop, you'll be doing a combination of acquisitions valuation along with "active" Asset Management for the property. meaning, you'll be part of the operations team that'll help the landlord realize its potential rent in the stabilized units.
what was your interview like? any technical questions or modeling?
Paul's a good guy, you'll get solid experience at an analyst level if you want to do multifamily long-term. They are expanding pretty quickly. Only problem is that the comp probably isn't that great and you're paying Manhattan rents.
bump
First links that popped up after searching them seems they are regarded as pretty shady.
Many major NYC multifamily owners will have significant bad publicity from de-regulating rent stabilized units. I wouldn't read into it that much.
To expound upon what everyone has said, Paul is a good guy, mostly Northern Manhattan. Aside from acquisitions they have a bridge/hard money platform. From memory it was loan to own, but don't quote me on that. I think they syndicate their deals and are not quite institutional, a lot of value add stuff.
The requirements of a job there were ridic last time I looked at their job add. It was like 4.0 from an IVY ...etc
interesting as I would assume most IVY leaguers would go a more institutional/larger route instead of multifamily deregulation.
Yeah, I just looked and the min GPA is 3.5, but it seems pretty choosy.
Yes - they are hiring now as seen below:
Investment Analyst – Castellan Real Estate Partners
Job Description
Seeking an undergraduate or recent graduate (0-2 years) for a full-time position to work with the acquisitions/lending/investment team to explore and underwrite new investment opportunities in the real estate market. This is an ideal opportunity for those wishing to gain exposure to the real estate acquisitions, lending, investment and management process.
Responsibilities
Looks like these guys are always hiring..is the place a revolving door for Jr personnel?
That's my guess too I remember themposting same position earlier last year.
Seems like they don't do many big deals probably buying mom and pop type stuff. Can definitely see someone getting the position and getting completely hoodwinked and it being some operational property management type role. Pay probably isn't the best either.
undergraduate / 0-2 years experience but wants exceptional modeling skills... is that reasonable?
I met with Paul about a year ago - sure he's a nice guy, but this is not the kind of shop where you want to start your career. Small, northern manhattan centric, questionable deal flow. My guess is that you will spend 5% of your time underwriting and doing true acquisitions work and the rest of your time doing just what Yankss101 said: Asset Management and operational bullshit.
I went thru several rounds of interviews with them and ultimately did not get the job. They put me thru a rigorous excel test. They own multifamily, retail, commercial in NYC and multifamily only in other markets. They also have a bridge lending business. I believe their acquisitions and lending group are separate from property management.
Did you have a phone call with the head of acquisitions, Etan? If so, was it technical or more a run through of your resume?
what are you guys thinking comp wise? 60's?
also if you wanted to stay in the multifamily space would it be a good place to start? seems like you would get a lot of hands on experience.
They're the Kings of middle market rent stabilized value-add plays in Harlem. Models are actually pretty in depth for a smaller shop. Should gain decent financial modeling skills there if they have you doing real acquisitions work.
Also, funny how everyone here knows Paul. Guy must be a grade A networker or the NYC real estate world is really small.
Worked there for a year as an analyst. Learned a ton but it's not a very collaborative environment and they don't care much about your personal success or progression. Their acquisition strategy is a bit narrowly focused as they only buy multifamily in NYC. Learned a lot but not good people to work with.
Worked at Castellan for two years straight out of school as both an analyst and associate. As far as exposure goes, it was a great platform to learn, with exposure in acquisitions. dispositions and lending. While they can be a little detached from the day to day, Paul and John are good guys. When I left, the investment thesis on the acquisitions side moved far away from the rent stabilized product and more towards market rate product, still with an NYC focus. Barring a few ad hoc tasks here and there, I stayed far away from any asset management functions.
Comp was decent, but was stretched quite thin at times and the environment is definitely not for everyone!
Hey guys, saw recent jobs postings and wanted to see if anything has changed? I'm 1 year out of undergrad looking to move so in the range of experience, what kind of exit ops do you think you'd get from here today?
All the above comments seems great and positive, but curious their rep now 8 years later.
Paul is a good person. I have a few friends who worked at Castellan (began their careers there) and they had good experiences - learned a lot. They have since moved on and landed in strong firms. Castellan is a strong player and would be a great firm to be at. The firm has expanded a lot from what I understand - their traditional equity program plus a lending program and they now have a LIHTC development arm. It would be a good spot to begin a career.
I don't know the firm but I would warn people to be wary of going to shops that specialized in "value add" in the rent stabilized space. You run a real risk of just operating all these assets bought from 2016-2019 that they can't get out from under due to the 2019 Rent Stab law. Not a reflection on these guys in particular, just reading up-thread and their website, if that was their strategy then they definitely got burned and you might want to factor that in. Everyone did.
Paul and Etan were 2 of my professors when I was pursuing my MSRE at NYU. Great guys and mentors. I never worked at Castellan, but they used their own deals as case studies for the students. The impression I got was they are quite savvy and can adapt quickly to their environment. They started in 2009 to take advantage of the 08' crisis and made a killing from then until 2014. In 2014, deals started getting more expensive so they opened a lending platform. Recently, as lending has become more competitive, they've started doing LIHTC deals. It takes a lot of guts and experience to be able to open new platforms and switch strategies so quickly and confidently. They also have very strong international investors. A direct quote from a discussion I had from Paul in 2019 was "I wish we had the capital backing we have today in 2008. We'd be able to raise $1-2b in 2 weeks."
I would just ensure it’s an actual Analyst gig learning underwriting and working on deals opposed to running around the city collecting rent checks.
I can guarantee it’s not a property management role. They are pure finance people and if I’m not mistaken, they actually brought property management in house - so they have an arm that does that already.
Yup, could be possible in today's market. The role says underwriting for acquisitions and loans so I think I'd get exposure. I've seen them buy a deal in the past two years and to clarify I'm not coming out of undergrad but this would be a second job.
Good reputation. I don't think that they leverage their balance sheet like someone else mentioned (or at least that's not what they told us). The shop is still very lean and there is a big void to fill given that Daniella Marca just left.
I worked at Castellan for a couple years as an analyst in their bridge lending business. The position offered a ton of exposure to all aspects of transactions including modelling, investment committee meetings, sourcing deals, due diligence, and legal. Also, I was able to work on the refinances and sales of portfolio properties. I can assure you that this is not an active, property-management role.
Brand new account to post about how great Castellan is? Job market is tough for employers rn eh?
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