Real Estate Banking Management Careers

Real estate department managers’ jobs may vary, depending on the department’s responsibilities.

If the department primarily assists with employee relocations, managers are responsible for ensuring that all employees in the department are efficiently handling the relocation tasks. For example, they will oversee employees as they work with real estate agents to sell the employee’s current home and help the employee find a new one. Real estate department managers will work with department managers to meet department goals of seeking to protect the employee’s real estate assets and minimize his or her risk.

They also take responsibility for making sure that all employees are providing good customer service to these internal customers. They may help resolve some disputes or problems. Real estate department managers also look at department staffing needs. They look to see if there are appropriate numbers of people providing services, and if these people are properly trained and performing at optimum levels. If not, managers may work with the staff to improve their performance.

If the real estate department’s responsibility is to manage the bank’s branches and other facilities, the manager may perform frequent site inspections to determine whether the facilities need work to keep them functioning properly and maintain their value. The real estate department manager may have in-house crews he or she supervises and the in-house crews perform most of the maintenance work, or he or she may hire contractors to perform all maintenance. The real estate department manager must also hire any outside contractors for construction, remodeling, and improvements and oversee them to make sure all work is done according to specs, within budget and deadlines.

Like other managers, real estate department managers may need to provide leadership and motivation to the employees they supervise. Since managing involves working closely with both employees and internal customers, you should enjoy working with people in this position. This may be the right career path for you if you enjoy managing real estate, employees, and helping others.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the future outlook for bank managers in general is good, and the overall number of banking jobs is expected to grow over the next ten years.

Educational Requirements

Real estate department managers may be expected to hold a bachelor’s degree in a field related to business or real estate. If the bank’s real estate department’s function is to maintain facilities, the manager may not have to have a degree. Instead he or she may be required to have several years of experience managing properties or in real estate. If the department helps relocates employees and the manager assists in real estate transactions, he or she may be required to hold a real estate license.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

While some banks require a slightly different skill set than others, most banks expect real estate department managers to have extensive previous experience in the real estate industry. Most banks usually require a minimum of three to five years of previous experience. Managers are expected to have a thorough knowledge of real estate services and transactions, as well as bank and federal banking regulations and policies associated with them.

Since real estate department managers may be responsible for managing employees, contractors, and others, banks expect these employees to have excellent leadership skills, and be able to make decisions for the department and internal customers which will protect the internal customer’s or the bank’s real estate assets. Some banks expect real estate managers to have project management skills. Real estate managers should be able to motivate their team of employees to meet work quality standards.

Because real estate managers may interact with contractors, employees, and other members of the public on a daily basis, they should possess excellent communication skills. They also frequently juggle multiple tasks and priorities and so should have good organizational and time management skills.

Average Salary

The average salary for banking managers in general can vary widely from bank to bank and state to state. The average annual salary of financial managers according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is $70,000, but that includes managers of many departments within a bank.

Potential Career Paths

Real estate department managers have limited career paths at a bank. They perform very specific functions not found in the majority of other departments at the bank. If the real estate department is very large and executive positions available, the real estate manager could get promoted to one of those positions. Otherwise, managers may already be at the top of their career paths at a bank, and would have to transfer to a larger bank where he or she could obtain a position with more responsibilities and pay. Or, the employee could become a facilities manager with a different company. For real estate managers who handle employee relocations, the manager could begin his or her own consulting business or real estate firm.