NYC Real Estate Acquisitions Associate

Position Summary

RockFarmer Properties is seeking an experienced Real Estate Acquisitions Associate to help source, evaluate, structure, and execute investments across a diverse range of property types and strategies. This is a hands-on role for a transaction professional who can move fluidly between relationship-driven sourcing, rigorous underwriting, investment judgment, and closing execution.

The Associate will take meaningful ownership of transactions from initial screening through closing, partner closely with senior management on investment strategy, and serve as a day-to-day leader for analysts and external deal teams. The successful candidate will be comfortable forming an independent view, communicating it clearly, and advancing multiple complex opportunities at once.

Key Responsibilities

· Source and evaluate acquisition opportunities through brokers, owners, lenders, operating partners, and other market relationships; build and maintain an actionable pipeline.

· Lead initial screening and develop clear investment theses, including fit with the firm’s return objectives, strategy, risk parameters, and capital plan.

· Own underwriting and financial modeling across acquisition, development, and value-add scenarios, including cash flows, debt and equity structures, sensitivities, waterfalls, and downside cases.

· Manage transaction diligence from launch through closing, coordinating legal, tax, engineering, environmental, zoning, insurance, financing, and other third-party workstreams.

· Prepare investment committee memoranda and presentations; synthesize key opportunities, risks, mitigants, returns, and open items, and present recommendations to senior decision-makers.

· Support and, where appropriate, lead negotiations of letters of intent, purchase agreements, joint venture terms, financing documents, and other transaction materials alongside senior management and counsel.

· Develop capitalization strategies and evaluate debt, preferred equity, joint venture, and other partnership structures; cultivate relationships with lenders and capital partners.

· Partner with asset management, development, construction, accounting, and legal teams to validate business plans and ensure a disciplined transition from acquisition to execution.

· Review and guide analyst work product, establish clear deadlines and quality standards, and contribute to the continued improvement of underwriting tools, diligence processes, and market intelligence.

· Support investor materials, portfolio-level analysis, and evaluation of new markets, asset classes, and investment strategies.

Qualifications & Experience

· 4–7 years of relevant experience in NYC multi-family real estate acquisitions, investment banking, private equity, principal investing, development, or a closely related transaction-focused role.

· Demonstrated experience underwriting and executing real estate transactions; direct exposure to sourcing and closing investments is strongly preferred.

· Advanced financial modeling skills, including property-level cash flows, development budgets, debt sizing, return sensitivities, and joint venture waterfalls.

· Strong command of real estate valuation, capital markets, due diligence, transaction structuring, and investment risk analysis across one or more property sectors.

· Experience with institutional investors, family offices, lenders, operating partners, or other sophisticated capital providers.

· Working knowledge of development economics, zoning, pre-development analysis, construction budgeting, and entitlement considerations.

· Experience with affordable housing, public subsidies, tax incentives, or other governmental programs is a plus.

· Established industry relationships in New York City and the broader tri-state market are highly valued; experience in additional U.S. markets is a plus.

· Bachelor’s degree in finance, real estate, economics, accounting, or a related field; advanced degree or relevant professional designation is a plus.

· Advanced proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; experience with ARGUS Enterprise and relevant market data platforms preferred.

· Proficiency in various AI software

What Success Looks Like

· Consistently advances well-vetted opportunities supported by thoughtful, defensible underwriting and a clear investment point of view.

· Anticipates issues, drives diligence and documentation proactively, and keeps internal and external stakeholders aligned through closing.

· Builds trusted relationships across the market and expands the firm’s access to proprietary and selectively marketed opportunities.

· Raises the quality and efficiency of the acquisitions function through sound judgment, strong communication, and constructive leadership of junior team members.

Core Attributes

· Commercial judgment and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to identify both value-creation opportunities and material downside risks.

· Ownership mindset: organized, accountable, responsive, and comfortable operating with appropriate autonomy.

· Persuasive written and verbal communication, including the ability to present complex analyses succinctly to senior audiences.

· Relationship-oriented and credible with brokers, owners, lenders, partners, consultants, and colleagues.

· High standards for accuracy and detail, balanced with the ability to prioritize and make decisions in a fast-moving environment.

· Collaborative, an abundance mind-set and a genuine interest in coaching and developing more junior professionals.