Vice President 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 is 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, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio, and Tampa.

Position Overview:

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.

Manager must be able to identify land that comports with the strategic plan and be able to coordinate the acquisition, zoning, and development processes.

Manager must be able to 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.

Manager needs to be able to manage zoning attorneys, our real estate attorney, developers (both in-house and outside) and local regulatory agencies in order 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.

Major Functional Responsibilities:

Expertise in:

• Residential real estate laws and zoning regulations
• Contract language and the ability to identify critical deal points
• Broker networking
• Supply/demand analysis and demographic mapping
• Local residential housing markets
• Basic land development process
• Basic financial analysis and proforma creation.
• Deal structures: option contracts, mezzanine financing, joint ventures, assemblages, and land banking
• Topographical effects on development
• Basic sales and marketing functions

Supplying the division with its land needs:

• 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, in order 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 are seeing 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

Getting targeted land to the building operation:

• 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. Items that do not meet the ideal need to be clearly identified as issues to the division management team. Ensure that all contracts allow the division the time to perform in-depth due diligence prior to any non-refundable deposits going “hard.”
• 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.” Ensure that the division conducts a thorough and complete due diligence on the target property (see attached land acquisition submission format)
• 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

Additional tasks:

• 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
• 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

Additional Administrative Requirements:

• Conduct weekly land status report meeting with Division President
• Submit monthly corporate land acquisition reports
  • Monitor division take-down requirements on all deals and ensure that we comport with our contracts so as to protect our positions, contract rights and earnest money

Position Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, real estate, finance, or related field required.
• Master’s degree in business, finance, real estate, or related field highly desirable.
• Computer literacy required.
• Five years’ experience in land acquisition, divestiture and development preferred.
• High drive individual with demonstrable track record of independent achievement
• Realtor or Broker’s license desirable but not required

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.