Asset Manager – Affordable Housing

Great Expectations | Seattle, WA
$125,000–$145,000 + performance bonus

About Great Expectations

Great Expectations is a Seattle-based real estate investment and development company focused on affordable and workforce housing. Together with our affiliated property management company, Arboreal Management, we own, develop, and manage a growing portfolio of multifamily housing throughout the Pacific Northwest.

We are looking for an Asset Manager to take ownership of the financial and operating performance of our affordable housing portfolio.

The Role

Our dual mission is below market housing for PNW residents and above market returns for investors. This is an owner-side role with a simple mandate: deliver on that mission.

As Asset Manager, you will own the business plan for each property in your portfolio. You will understand what is happening operationally and financially, identify problems early, develop solutions, and drive them through to completion.

Our properties are largely self-managed through our affiliated property management company, Arboreal. You will not manage site teams directly. Instead, you will represent ownership and hold the management company accountable for results.

When a property misses budget, you will figure out why. When occupancy falls, you will understand what is happening with rents, traffic, conversions, turns and concessions. When expenses increase, you will dig into the underlying drivers. When a loan maturity, capital need or regulatory issue is approaching, you will make sure we have a plan well before it becomes urgent.

This is not a role for someone who simply reports on problems. We want someone who finds them, understands them and gets them solved.

What You'll Own

Property Performance

You will be responsible for the performance of a portfolio of affordable and workforce housing properties.

You will:

• Own and continuously update the business plan for each property.

• Review monthly financial performance against budget, underwriting and prior periods.

• Analyze rent rolls, occupancy, leasing velocity, rents, concessions, collections, bad debt and operating expenses.

• Identify the underlying causes of property underperformance.

• Establish measurable recovery plans with property management and follow through until results improve.

• Review and challenge annual property budgets.

• Monitor maintenance, unit turns, physical condition and major operating issues.

• Visit properties regularly and develop a firsthand understanding of the assets.

• Identify opportunities to increase revenue, control expenses and improve NOI.

Financing & Asset Strategy

Asset management at Great Expectations goes beyond property operations. You will also help determine what we should do with the assets themselves.

You will:

• Maintain a detailed understanding of each property's debt, reserves, regulatory agreements and capital structure.

• Monitor DSCR, debt yield, loan covenants, maturities and lender requirements.

• Build and maintain property-level financial models and forecasts.

• Evaluate refinancing, recapitalization, disposition and other strategic alternatives.

• Work with lenders, brokers, attorneys, investors and other capital partners.

• Help execute refinancings and other capital transactions.

• Plan for significant capital expenditures and evaluate their financial impact.

• Maintain a forward-looking view of financing and capital needs across the portfolio.

Affordable Housing Oversight

This is not a compliance processing role. We have dedicated professionals responsible for the detailed work of affordable housing compliance.

The Asset Manager is responsible for making sure that compliance is being managed effectively as part of the overall health of the asset.

You will:

• Understand the major affordability and regulatory requirements governing each property.

• Work closely with our compliance team and outside specialists.

• Monitor regulatory reporting, inspections, findings and corrective actions.

• Make sure compliance problems are escalated and resolved.

• Coordinate with housing authorities, government agencies, lenders and investors when needed.

• Incorporate affordability restrictions and regulatory requirements into property financial plans and investment decisions.

Who We're Looking For

There is no single background required for this position.

You may currently work in:

• Asset management

• Multifamily acquisitions

• Investment sales

• Debt or equity placement

• Commercial real estate lending

• Real estate private equity

• Affordable housing development or finance

We are particularly interested in candidates with strong underwriting and financial skills who want to move closer to the ownership and operation of real estate.

You should be able to look at a property's financial statements, rent roll and operating data and quickly develop a point of view about what is happening and what should be done about it.

Direct affordable housing experience is preferred but not required. We can teach the regulatory framework to a strong real estate professional who has the analytical ability, curiosity and drive to learn it.

What Makes Someone Great at This Job

We're looking for someone with approximately 3–7+ years of relevant real estate experience and strong financial and analytical skills.

More importantly, we're looking for a particular kind of person.

You:

• Have strong real estate underwriting and financial modeling skills.

• Understand how multifamily properties make and lose money.

• Are comfortable digging into financial statements, rent rolls and operating data.

• Have good commercial instincts and can distinguish an important problem from noise.

• Ask questions when something doesn't make sense and keep digging until you understand it.

• Can move comfortably between a spreadsheet, a lender conversation and a property walk.

• Communicate clearly and confidently with property managers, lenders, investors and senior leadership.

• Are comfortable challenging people and holding them accountable.

• Are organized enough to keep many properties, deadlines and initiatives moving at once.

• Take ownership rather than waiting for someone else to solve a problem.

• Follow through relentlessly.

Experience with LIHTC, HUD, Section 8/HAP, tax-exempt bonds, affordable housing regulatory agreements or other housing programs is a plus.

Why Great Expectations

For someone coming from brokerage, lending or acquisitions, this is an opportunity to move from analyzing real estate to taking responsibility for what happens to it.

You will see the entire life of an investment: operations, financing, capital improvements, regulatory strategy, refinancing and ultimately disposition or recapitalization.

You will work directly with company leadership and have substantial autonomy. This is a relatively flat organization, and the Asset Manager will have a real voice in decisions about our properties and portfolio.

For someone already working in asset management, this is an opportunity to have unusually direct ownership of results rather than simply producing reports and recommendations.

Great Expectations is growing, and we want someone who can grow with us.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $125,000–$145,000, depending on experience, plus a performance-based bonus and the opportunity to participate in our investments.

We offer a competitive benefits package including health benefits, paid time off and retirement benefits.

Location: Seattle, WA
Employment: Full-time