Charlotte Regional Director

What is CoHab?

CoHab is a real estate development team building walkable neighborhoods in secondary American markets (e.g., Charlotte, NC). Our goal is to recreate the lifestyle and value of the country’s most desirable neighborhoods (think Brooklyn, SF, DC) in growing markets that don’t offer walkability and transit-centric living. We believe that urban, walkable lifestyles are imperative as part of the solution to climate change, which we consider the issue of our generation.

What we're looking for

CoHab is seeking a do-er. As an early stage company, our ideal candidate can both lean into immediate needs and keep a long view, adding value by building the component parts of a successful company. And as part of a small team, the candidate will be a business partner, who must take initiative to generate CoHab’s target outcomes: build walkable neighborhoods.

About You

• Proven track record of effectively managing projects with competing demands and deadlines
• Committed to personal and professional growth through open feedback in a fast-paced start-up environment
• Curiosity-driven learner
• Outcomes oriented
• Possesses the confidence to offer opinions without complete information, and the humility to change opinions when contrary evidence amounts
• Strong communication skills – both verbal and written
• A good thinker, someone who can process multi-variable decisions thoroughly, objectively, and with good humor
• Demonstrated interest in urbanism, the built environment, real estate, and/or working on solutions to climate change
• Desire to help create a thriving business environment and culture that is inclusive, fun, engaged, and curious

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree required; relevant graduate degrees viewed favorably
• Minimum 5 years of total work experience; 7+ years preferred
• Demonstrated experience in partner management, entrepreneurship, fundraising, and/or finance
• Experience with real estate/architecture/construction preferred, but not required
• Mission alignment essential
• Charlotte residency (or relocation) is required

The Role

We will tailor the role to match the candidate’s experience and expect the role to evolve as the company grows. Ideally, candidates will bring direct experience or relevant skills for each of these components:

Real Estate Management

• In close coordination with the CEO and Director of Operations, build on CoHab’s reputation in the Charlotte market by selecting and nurturing key Charlotte relationships, including: city officials, attorneys, contractors, neighborhood associations, investors, banks, brokers, landowners, other real estate developers
• Spend time each week visiting sites under construction to talk with the Superintendents / Project Managers, engender trust in our partners, and keep the CoHab team aware of on-the-ground conditions
• Collaborate with the CEO, local brokers, and landowners to help evaluate new properties and bring off-market deals to the firm
• Collaborate with the Director of Operations and external property management firms to implement property management systems
• Be flexible and do what is needed to be done

Capital Raising

CoHab’s development portfolio will exceed $200M over the next 4 years. Capital raising at CoHab is a team effort, supported by the CEO, CFO, and the Director of Operations.

Take responsibility for generating equity and debt leads, follow-ups, due diligence, and ultimately closing on a meaningful contribution of the firm’s total need.

Finance and Analysis

Deals: Support underwriting of current and prospective real estate deals.

Financial management: Collaborate with the CFO to support the creation and maintenance of internal financial systems (accounting, corporate finance, etc.). These systems will be used to make data-driven business decisions.

Reading / Learning / Conferences

Good ideas often come in the quieter moments. We want our team to be full of generative ideas. Take time to read, learn, and attend events. Do what you need to do to stay creative and broaden your horizons.

Travel Expectations

• Based in Charlotte, NC
• Visit San Francisco or New York a few times a year
• Attendance at occasional events and conferences

Start Date

Summer 2020 (flexible)

Salary

Commensurate with experience

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More about CoHab

Why we started CoHab

• Climate change and sustainability: We started CoHab to support cohabitation between humans and the planet (thus the name), which we consider the single greatest challenge of our lifetime. We must redesign modern human lifestyles within the context of climate change. We believe that expanding walkable, transit-oriented lifestyles would make a significant impact by reducing home and transportation-related emissions.
• Delivering urban joy: We have experienced the joy of living in cities firsthand. We want more people – our customers – to experience that joy in the markets they live.
• Climate solutions address structural inequality: While affordable housing is the focus of many impact real estate firms – and understandably so – we take a longer view, knowing those most affected by climate change will be the world’s poor. Reducing climate change is our way of reducing poverty vulnerability.
• Multifamily housing innovation: We want to address housing scarcity through innovation. We are interested in solutions that help us build higher quality housing, cost-effectively and on a faster time scale.
• Capitalism and impact are not mutually exclusive: We believe that our impact has to be intertwined with profit in order for us to scale across geographies and generations. A sustainable business model allows us to live well-rounded lives and provide for our loved ones.

Beliefs that underpin our work

• Our north star is building the next generation of great neighborhoods in the US.
• Smaller buildings are more desirable and offer a better living experience than megadevelopments. Clusters of small buildings, in turn, create density to support shared services (like retail) and walkability without losing the intimacy of small community living.
• We acknowledge that people choose where to live and spend time based on aesthetics, experience, and status. It is not necessarily good enough to build the cheapest building or the most efficient one. Our buildings, and thus our neighborhoods, can only be successful if people are drawn to them.
• If you can’t get the rent, you can’t build the building. Affordability, sustainable materials, energy efficiency can only be worked on if the project gets built.
• We find the edge of the market. We would rather build a compelling product to serve a slice of potential customers than build an undifferentiated product to appeal to every possible resident. The goal is to recruit a passionate, values-aligned customer base.
• We are targeting a customer demographic that cares about playing their part toward a better society. They are future-focused, not traditionalist. They like novelty, contemporary design. They like being on the forefront of where the market is headed.
• We believe injecting funk (across design and experience) is essential to a good neighborhood, long-term relevance, and financial success.
• We are tech-forward aggregators. While we will not invent new building technologies, we will aggregate and integrate market-ready technologies into a coherent vision for our residents.

Values that we run our company by

• The kind of big change we deliver is, by necessity, incremental, but radical in its increments. We don't let the ideal stymie progress. Done is better than perfect most of the time.
• We question first principles to challenge conventional wisdom but are willing to be wrong. We are constantly updating our world views in light of new evidence. This focus on learning means that the firm will evolve in ways that we can't yet predict.
• Diversity is not only right, but smart. Diversity in our team is both a moral imperative and also a requirement for our firm to perform at its best. CoHab should reflect the diversity of the cities we operate in. (It doesn’t yet.)
• We are humans and so are our partners. We treat each other and our partners with grace in good and bad times, in celebration and disagreement. This is not mutually exclusive with having high standards.
• Creating is hard. Critiquing is easy. Be generous to the creators (regardless of whether they are creating financial models, building plans, investor decks, or email drafts).
• We will relentlessly refine our business systems because we know a systematized machine is the only way to accomplish outcomes – and impact – at scale.
• We view our company with a long-time horizon and at a grand scale. To accomplish our ambition, we must push our capacity, financial resources, and partnerships into sometimes uncomfortable places.
• We desire to live full, well-rounded lives and do meaningful work at scale.