Got a job as a commercial real-estate manager for developer!
I thought I might post this because I'm not exactly a newbie.... I have my CPM (Certified Property Manager) under IREM, my bachelors degree, and 7 years of full time condo management experience... not exactly commercial, but I've taken the steps to learn the commercial field extensively.

Recently a commercial real estate management position landed on my lap for a mid-size developer. The position is broadly self-managed, so I feel really overwhelmed. They have a management company overseeing the rentals of the commercial buildings - I will be executing the high level decisions and strategy.

The theory... I understand very well. Mid-stream analysis, managing NOI, loan decisions, service scheduling, etc.

Some things I am concerned about is contract tendering, negotiating and capital planning.

* For capital planning, I am looking at getting a Reserve Fund Professional Planner certificate through a Canadian real estate school, to help deal with those stressors. **Question is - do fellow commercial real estate managers find a reserve fund planning certificate useful in your career? Is it worth pursuing?** The program is approximately $2k.
* Employer indicated they want me to negotiate, execute and oversee the major contracts in terms of capital projects. They have a legal department, but they want me to give feedback on agreements from the planning through execution and closing stages. **Does anyone have any resources or videos for things to look out for from a commercial real estate management perspective?** 

I feel a bit in over my head, and have been doing my best to try to prepare for this career. I've reached out to my local IREM chapter representative, but there isn't much they can offer other than the webinars (I've been participating in all available to me).

Does anyone have any additional resources? 

*Any licensed commercial managers willing to jump on a discord call to chat about commercial realestate management experiences?* 

If this post is inappropriate for this sub, I will apologize for making it and delete it.
[{"id": "i0si2jl", "text": "I own several commercial properties and have read a few commercial management books. The consensus from the books is the best way to manage commercial property is to find a good commercial management company who is accredited and has a certain few certificates. I preface with that to say, I think it will be a good decision to take the course as it will be another feather in your cap as a manager, and the cost will pay for itself 10 fold if you can apply what they teach and it helps your developer.     \nJust my 2 cents.     \nInterested in what others have to say as well.", "replies": [{"id": "i0sxwes", "text": "Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post. I really appreciate your insights.\n\nI think going based off of this, I will actively pursue the RFPP certificate. Will keep the receipts to try to have the education reimbursed. If they reimburse me, great! If not, then I will somehow get value from it one way or another.\n\nThis is the program by the way (for anyone curious about what the heck im talking about):\n\n[https://www.sauder.ubc.ca/programs/real-estate/credit-programs/professional-development/reserve-fund-planning](https://www.sauder.ubc.ca/programs/real-estate/credit-programs/professional-development/reserve-fund-planning)", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i0so1ny", "text": "Couple of things to understand, I hope this position pays well, because you're going to be doing a lot of work.  The biggest thing is that you've got absolutely no safety net, so if something goes wrong, you've got nothing supporting you.\n\nThis role is about three things: time management, risk mitigation, and prioritization.  You've got a management company, you're going to want to fully understand their scope.  What do they do, what do they not, and is what you're getting enough for you to be successful.  Don't be afraid to ask for more resources if you can prove you need them.  If your boss says no, then you know what to expect moving forward.\n\nRegarding your questions:\nReserve Fund Professional Planner - This is a Canadian thing, but as someone else said it's always helpful to get more knowledge, and if it comes with a certificate even better.  But you want to know about depreciation and replacement reserves, so I would do it.  But I would ask your employer if they'd pay for it first.\n\nNegotiating - Look through existing contracts, if any.  The thing to remember is negotiating has 2 sides: Business &amp; Legal.  Anything legal is handled by legal, and generally I let legal drive, depending on where we are in the negotiations.  You're there for any business decisions, so you need to know what are the preferred business terms, and what are your deal breakers.  Everything in between, is where you earn your keep.  But lean on your legal team, and ask them not only for their thoughts, but confirm the risks of decisions, and what they recommend.  If they are a good legal team, they'll have opinions.\n\nBut good luck, and just remember the quote from Richard Branson:\n\n\"If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes \u2013 then learn how to do it later!\"", "replies": [{"id": "i0t5idq", "text": "Hi u/fenix1230. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. You gave me a lot to think about. I've read your post three times already!\n\n***In terms of pay***: I could definitely have negotiated a better salary. I made it clear to the hiring manager that I did not have experience in some of the job responsibilities that they were looking for. I was 100% transparent with them, almost to my detriment.\n\nHowever I met with their CFO, we did a few exercises (tests), I showed samples of my reports, and they really pushed me to join their team. I didn't really negotiate because I was unprepared to even get a job offer from them to be honest. But it's definitely more than I was making with my last company ( - that's not saying much though *(35% increase)*.\n\nThey do offer amazing health benefits and vacation time - I value that much more than more $$.\n\n***Fall-back***: If I fail, I can always go back to managing condos (HOA). Getting a job in that field is very easy for me. But I really would rather not... I've peaked in that industry - I was already working as a regional manager, and have limited room to move vertically beyond that.\n\nI spent a lot of time and money on my education/training to get out of HOAs. Ideally, I'd like to learn as much as possible from this opportunity.\n\n***Three critical skills:*** *Time management, risk mitigation, and prioritization.* Thanks for pointing them out, I'll make a mantra out of them.\n\nI'll get my hands on the management contracts, hopefully they are accessible to me. Your point about asking for resources - likely won't have an issue with asking for help (hope I get it though!). My transparency about being a novice through the hiring stage will definitely help me in this respect. I do get a vibe that they have a positive work culture there.\n\n***RFPP Program***: Bdtvx5788 gave some insights about this. I will pursue the program regardless if the company pays for it or not - but I will definitely ask first. It will be nice if they paid for it. I'm pretty sharp with TVM, discounting cash flows, and midstream analysis. But I don't know where there are gaps in my knowledge - so I'm hoping this certificate will help identify them, and fill them in for me.\n\n***Negotiating***\\*:\\* This is the scariest part for me.\n\nI'm hoping I can use quantitative tools to drive negotiations. Looking at past contracts will help in determining preferred terms too. Going to look to past practices and develop a strong camaraderie with the legal team until I find that confidence in my new role.\n\n***\"If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes \u2013 then learn how to do it later!\"***\n\nThank you for this quote. Your response and support are highly motivating.\n\nFor the past 2 hours I've been hungrily consuming as much knowledge from this subreddit as I can. School can teach you all the knowledge in the world - but until you get that hands-on experience, it still is a scary unknown.", "replies": [{"id": "i0td163", "text": "My pleasure, and it means a lot to know you\u2019re taking the advice to heart.  As far as pay, you\u2019re getting more than before, and more importantly, you\u2019re in a job with increased and new responsibilities that\u2019s going to grow you as a real estate professional.  You\u2019ve got a great opportunity to learn on the job, and so take advantage of it, and with enough time, if you\u2019re not paid enough, you\u2019ll have the experience to find a job that pays you what you\u2019re worth.\n\nAs far as negotiating, use you\u2019re quantitative skills. Break down costs, think long term, and make relationships with other people in your field so you can leverage their experience.  Join a group on LinkedIn that does what you do, and start there, but if you can start surrounding yourself with people doing your job, you can learn by just talking with them.  But negotiations are all about knowing what you need, knowing what they need, and understanding how much you can give while still getting what you need.  Adam Grant had a book called Give and Take, I would buy it to get a sense of how to think about negotiations.  There\u2019s a lot of books out there, so you can definitely find resources.  I also like Good for you, Great for me by Lawrence Susskind.  Either way, you can find resources for negotiating, but definitely look at old contracts and talk to your legal team.  \n\nAnd lastly, again good luck!  You\u2019re going to do well, and this role has a lot of upside.  Congrats.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i0u3vev", "text": "Hi there!  Sorry I can't be helpful, but was wondering if you'd mind telling us a bit about how you got into the condo management business?  Thanks a lot!", "replies": [{"id": "i0w4qqz", "text": "When I was in uni, I got a job as an administrator for a condo building - totally by fluke, I needed to make some extra money to afford rent. After doing it for about 1 year, I applied to a jr condo manager position.\n\nIn my province in Canada, you're required to do some licensing courses to be a condo manager (4 in total). I finished those within a year.\n\nI'm not sure if I would recommend the career path. The barriers to entry are minimal - but this is also reflected in the pay. You're also on-call essentially 24/7.\n\nJust my 2 cents.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i0vmv8j", "text": "Do you know any general contractors you trust?  Also, BOMI offers very good education for PMs. Their specific designation for PMs is called the RPA (Real Property Manager).  I\u2019m thinking specifically of the two-class series \u201cThe Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Building Systems.\u201d  \n\nWhen I hire PMs, I prefer the RPA over the CPM, although I appreciate anyone who takes the time to complete either.", "replies": [{"id": "i0wlbh1", "text": "In my old job, I had a pretty solid list of vendors who I could rely on. During the interview stage, this company indicated they have a list of vendors that they deal with - not sure if that's a red flag or not. However, I'll work hard on establishing positive working relationships.\n\nI did look into the RPA. It seemed to me like it was more focused on physical building - mechanical, structural, electrical. In the condo industry I was required to be licensed, and to take physical building management courses. Doing RPA on top of my condominium licenses seemed like a redundancy at the time.\n\nCPM seemed to put more focus on the financial analysis aspect. But I'm not so sure that I'm ready to forget about the RPA designation entirely - and will likely consider it in the future.\n\nFinancial constraints were a major deciding factor for me too. Past few years my pay was not the best, and all my association dues were coming out of pocket (employer refused to pay them). I was spending close to $3k every year just to maintain membership status for my accreditations.", "replies": [{"id": "i0wmev9", "text": "It certainly changes the equation if your dues and education are coming from your pocket v. your employer. I would negotiate those items during the job interview process (I understand you\u2019re passed that now). I agree with you that the CPM is more focused on the financial management of the asset v. the physical. I\u2019m usually looking for education to help my PMs on the physical side of managing the asset v. the financial. That\u2019s why I pay for PMs RPA designation through BOMI. Just my $0.02.", "replies": [{"id": "i0wowyy", "text": "100% you are right. Unfortunately the ship has sailed - and this is an expensive lesson on my end. I don't beat myself too much over it though. Was going through a lot at the time, especially with the Ukraine crisis that happened.\n\nI hoping that I will be able to impress the new employer over the next few months and negotiate for some continuing education funding.\n\nI'll probably end up calculating the total cost of the continuing education, and make a proposal to the company. Hopefully they will agree to it. No harm in asking, right? Worst case, they say no.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "i0xzybq", "text": "If it helps any as a comp, my policy is that I\u2019ll pay the annual dues for my PMs to join one CRE organization (the networking alone is worth it me), and I\u2019ll pay $1,500/year towards education. I have several PMs who wanted to fast track designations, and they fronted the $ for the courses, and then I reimbursed them $1,500/yr until they were fully paid back. I think they\u2019re more valuable to me with education (what\u2019s that old adage: do you want a good employee for a short time or a bad one forever?). Good luck on your CRE journey.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]