VP Land Acquisition

Ashton Woods•Tampa, FL

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Critical member of division leadership team responsible for providing the division with undeveloped land and finished lots enabling it to accomplish its sales, settlements, profitability, and growth targets as established in the division strategic plan. Work with the management team to ensure our sales, marketing and construction requirements are met on each deal.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, real estate, finance, or related field required.
At least five years of experience in land acquisition, divestiture and development.
Experience with MS Office Products (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and ability to learn other computer programs.
Knowledge of: Residential real estate laws and zoning regulations
Knowledge of: Contract language and the ability to identify critical deal points
Knowledge of: Broker networking
Knowledge of: Supply/demand analysis and demographic mapping
Knowledge of: Local residential housing markets
Knowledge of: Basic land development process
Knowledge of: Basic financial analysis and proforma creation.
Knowledge of: Deal structures: option contracts, mezzanine financing, joint ventures, assemblages, and land banking
Knowledge of: Topographical effects on development
Knowledge of: Basic sales and marketing functions
Must be able to read, write, and speak fluently in English.
Employees in the position are required to be able to hear and have sufficient vision to utilize all office equipment
Use of hands and fingers is required to utilize standard office equipment
Use of feet and legs required to walk, climb and maneuver within construction sites

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in business, finance, real estate, or related field preferred.
Realtor or Broker’s license preferred.
Spanish language skills are helpful

Responsibilities

Manage the land acquisition department; ensure that it is competently staffed and functional.
Identify land opportunities, which do not satisfy the division’s objectives, but have potential profit opportunities through the resale process
Manage the sale of division assets as required
Advise Division President on opportunities, market trends and competition
Conduct weekly land status report meeting with Division President
Identify land that aligns with the strategic plan and be able to coordinate the acquisition, zoning, and development processes.
Negotiate price and terms of property acquisitions to ensure the division has a competitive edge in our respective target sub-markets. Land needs to be acquired on terms that meet or exceed our financial requirements.
Partner with zoning attorneys, our real estate attorney, developers (both in-house and outside) and local regulatory agencies to ensure that the division’s risks are eliminated or mitigated.
Identify opportunities for the division to buy and “flip” land at a profit for the division. Manage any lot or land sale functions within the division.
Participate in the creation of the division strategic land acquisition planning process. Help guide the process to competitive acquisition targets that although rare, are possible to find
Identify and submit to the Division Manager enough suitable deals in accordance with our strategic plan, to achieve our financial objectives. Ensure that the land pieces submitted are strategically driven taking into consideration price points, competition, targeted customer profiles and supply/demand analysis
Actively look for niche land positions requiring direct contracting from owners, to include assemblage opportunities and joint venture scenarios
Develop extension broker connections so that we see a large number of new deals early in the selling process
Develop good contracts with the local developer community to provide the division with option deals in good subdivisions at competitive prices
Initiate the contract process, review all contract changes, oversee our attorney reviews and negotiations, identify major contractual risks (and their concurrent obligations), and ensure all our major deal point issues are addressed in each transaction.
Manage the zoning and permitting processes. Ensure that we get the best possible density and conditions from the process – ensure our contracts are linked to these results.
Manage our market knowledge and sub-market analysis projects to ensure that we have current data on land prices, lot prices, absorption, selling times, schools, road improvements, utilities, sewer, job centers, competition, municipal requirements, and other data needed to develop and refine our strategic land acquisition objectives.
Ensure that we budget for and control our land acquisition budget to include due diligence and research.