Director of Land Acquisition - Ashton Woods

Company Overview:

Ashton Woods is more than just a home builder. From the sale of our first home in 1989 to recently being named Builder of the Year by Builder Magazine, our focus has always been on blazing new trails and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in homebuilding. Ashton Woods, the #1 private home builder in the United States, markets its homes through its two award-winning brands, Ashton Woods and Starlight Homes. The Ashton Woods brand is known for designing thoughtfully curated, inspired homes for people who love design. The Starlight Homes brand builds homes specifically for the first-time homebuyer, offering affordable homes with well-executed designs and quality finishes for buyers looking to make the dream of home ownership a reality. The company’s commitment to innovation and continually evolving to meet the needs of the market is a key reason we are one of the most celebrated homebuilders in the nation, winning hundreds of national and local industry awards in product and community design, architecture, merchandising, sales, marketing, and customer service. We believe that what we accomplish together is greater than what we deliver individually. Our team members have inspired the shared values we embrace in all decisions and actions: Unwavering Integrity, Trail Blazing, Bold Action, Collective Compassion, and Unconditional Respect.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Ashton Woods sells new homes in Atlanta, Austin, Charleston, Dallas, Houston, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio and Tampa.

Position Overview:

The Director of Land Acquisition is 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. This position also partners with others on the leadership team to ensure our sales, marketing and construction requirements are met on each deal. Negotiate price and terms of property acquisitions to ensure the division has a competitive edge in our respective target submarkets. Manage 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.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the land acquisition department; ensure that it is competently staffed and functional
• Participate in the creation of the division strategic land acquisition planning process. Help guide the process to competitive acquisition targets
• Identify and submit to the Division Manager enough suitable deals in accordance with our strategic plan, to achieve financial objectives
• Actively look for niche land positions requiring direct contracting from owners, to include assemblage opportunities and joint venture scenarios
• Develop extensive broker connections so that we are seeing many 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 land feasibility package creation process. Assemble the corporate land acquisition study book for each land deal and ensure that it is submitted at least two weeks prior to any earnest money “hard date.”
• 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 submarket analysis projects to ensure that we have current data (e.g., land prices, lot prices, road improvements, municipal requirements), needed to develop and refine our strategic land acquisition objectives

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, real estate, finance, or related field
• At least 5 years’ experience in residential land acquisition, divestiture, and development
• Residential building industry experience preferred
• Experience with blueprints, construction drawings and addendums
• Experience with Outlook, Excel, Word, Power Point, and ability to learn new programs

Typical Physical and Mental Demands:

• Must be able to read, write, and speak fluently in English. Spanish language skills are helpful
• Employees in the position are required to be able to hear and have vision sufficient 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
• Requires occasional lifting up to 50 pounds

These physical requirements are representative of those required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions if requested.

Working Conditions:

Work is generally performed in the field, i.e., home building construction sites. Occasional work will be performed in a typical office environment and may involve the use of typical office environment using standard office equipment. Work is typically active in nature, but some sitting may be required. Fast paced environment subject to numerous schedule and priority change and short notice activity.