Waterstone Properties Group, Needham, MA
Job Description – Portfolio Analyst (on site)
The Portfolio Analyst will provide financial analysis and underwriting support across Waterstone’s existing retail real estate portfolio, with a focus on ongoing property-level forecasting, portfolio monitoring and investment decision-making. The Analyst will maintain the financial underwriting for each asset and work across Asset Management, Capital Markets, Leasing and senior management to evaluate leasing decisions, capital investments, refinancings, dispositions and other business-plan initiatives.
This role is intended for a highly analytical, self-motivated individual who can take ownership of financial models, identify key risks and opportunities, and translate property-level information into actionable investment analysis.
Primary Responsibilities
- Own and maintain property-level underwriting across the existing portfolio, including ARGUS models and supporting Excel models; regularly update leasing, operating, capital and market assumptions and reforecast projected asset-level returns.
- Monitor performance against underwriting and business plans, identify material variances, and evaluate their impact on property values and investment returns.
- Perform buy / hold / sell / refinance analyses, scenario modeling, valuations and other ad hoc analyses to support portfolio and capital-allocation decisions.
- Partner with Asset Management and Leasing to underwrite leasing decisions, including renewals, new leases, tenant backfills, downtime, TI/LC, rent spreads, NPV, NER and incremental returns.
- Evaluate capital expenditures, redevelopment opportunities and other property-level investments, including return-on-cost, incremental NOI, value creation and impact on overall asset returns.
- Support business-plan execution and periodic reforecasting, incorporating actual property performance and changes in leasing, capital plans, financing and exit assumptions.
- Develop analyses and recommendations for senior management and Investment Committee consideration and respond to ad hoc analytical requests from Asset Management, Capital Markets, Development and senior leadership.
- Help improve portfolio-level reporting, models and processes to provide management with better visibility into asset performance, risks, opportunities and capital allocation decisions.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, data science or a related field.
- 3–5 years of relevant commercial real estate experience, preferably in asset management, portfolio management, acquisitions, valuation or a similar analytical role; retail experience strongly preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of ARGUS Enterprise required, including the ability to independently build, maintain and modify property-level models.
- Advanced Excel financial modeling skills required, including the ability to build sophisticated real estate models and analyses from scratch rather than relying solely on existing templates.
- Strong understanding of commercial real estate underwriting and investment analysis, including DCF valuation, IRR/NPV, leasing economics, debt/refinancing analysis and return-on-cost.
- Highly motivated self-starter with a strong work ethic, attention to detail and ability to independently manage multiple analyses and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong judgment and communication skills, with the ability to work across multiple groups and translate financial analysis into clear conclusions and recommendations.
