Real Estate Finance Associate

Real Estate Finance Associate (CMBS and CLO) | Charlotte, NC | $310,000 to $455,000 plus bonus | Lender Side Capital Markets

New York pay. Charlotte cost of living. The gap between the two is a raise that never shows up on your offer letter.

The work is the same standard you’d expect in Manhattan: CMBS and CLO originations for the lenders who set the terms. If you’re a real estate finance lawyer deciding where to spend the next five years, read on.

I’m Clark Pollins at Distinct Recruitment, and I’m hiring a real estate finance associate for a national firm’s Charlotte team. The seat is open because deal flow has outgrown the team, and they want someone in it soon. I placed an attorney in this department earlier this year, and they’re thriving. Ask me what it’s like inside and you’ll get a straight answer.

What you’d work on

• Lender counsel for institutional lenders, investment banks and CMBS platforms
• Drafting and negotiating the loan agreement, note, mortgage or deed of trust, and guaranty
• Structuring loans to clear rating agency and securitization review: cash management, ground lease treatment, and the details that decide whether a loan sells
• Collateral diligence on title, survey, zoning, leases and third party reports
• Office, retail, multifamily, hospitality and industrial, so the work never goes stale
• Running closings and setting the timeline everyone else works to

Who I’m looking for

• 4 to 8 years in real estate finance
• Significant experience representing lenders on CMBS or CLO originations
• A strong academic record. The firm asks for transcripts.
• North Carolina admission, or eligibility to be admitted
• The kind of attention that notices a defined term drifting between the loan agreement and the guaranty, and is bothered by it

Compensation

• $310,000 to $455,000 base on the New York scale, with bonus on the same scale
• Two levels in play: midlevel associates around four years in, and senior associates. Your class year sets the number.

Working pattern

• Based in the Charlotte office
• Doing CMBS work in New York, DC or Raleigh and wondering what the same pay buys in Charlotte? I’d like to hear from you.

Why this one stands out

• The team’s North Carolina real estate finance practice is ranked by Chambers
• Built around an established CMBS group that joined the firm together, so the partners you learn from have worked side by side for years
• Part of one of the largest real estate practices of any US firm
• You advise the capital, and you see every matter from term sheet to closing. That’s how you learn where a deal will break before it does.

Our first call is confidential, with no pressure, just a conversation about the role and your career goals. There are two interview rounds, and whatever the outcome, you’ll get constructive feedback through me.

Questions before you apply, or want to talk it over first?