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Terry Tobin

Terry Tobin
Terry Tobin

Location, location, location

Law degree prepares Terry Tobin for job investing in real estate.

It's not a stretch to see Terrence (Terry) Tobin making the jump from corporate attorney to real estate investor.

After all, the 1979 political science graduate also holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree from Iowa State in economics. And after graduating from Georgetown Law School, Tobin worked for General Growth, one of the nation's leading shopping mall developers.

That was the start of 15 years in real estate law for Tobin, many of which came with the Principal Financial Group in Des Moines.

"When I first started at Principal, I had many internal clients in the real estate division," Tobin says. "One of those clients, Principal Enterprise Capital, kept getting bigger and bigger to the point where they were my only client."

At some point, Principal asked Tobin to step over the business side and not practice law. That's exactly what he has done for the past several years as a director of Principal Enterprise Capital, an investment manager which partners with private real estate operating companies using investment funds from third-party clients.

Principal Enterprise Capital invests in companies that own real estate properties including warehouses, retail, apartment complexes and some office buildings. While the investments are throughout the nation, the company tends to invest in the Denver, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas and Southern California markets.

But, according to Tobin, Principal Enterprise Capital invests in real estate a little bit different than the normal real estate investor.

"We invest at the company level," Tobin says. "We go find really good management teams and say 'you do the real estate and we'll give you the capital.'

"It's a real good business model and if done correctly can benefit all sides of the equation."

Tobin says there are a lot of skills that he learned from being an attorney that have translated to his new job description. He enjoys the variety of his position and working with "motivated entrepreneurs."

There are times however when he misses practicing law.

"I miss the collegially of a law department, working day-to-day with other lawyers," he says.

In addition to his daytime job, Clive resident is active in a variety of Iowa State, civic and community organizations. At Iowa State, Tobin is or has been a member of the ISU Foundation Board of Governors, the FarmHouse Fraternity Association Board, the Department of Political Science Alumni Advisory Committee and served six years as an Iowa 4-H Foundation Trustee, including a term as president of that board.

He is currently a member of the West Des Moines Community School District Board of Education and is a recipient of the Iowa State Bar Association Young Lawyers' Division Award of Merit.

"I grew up in a family that put a high level of importance on education and community service," Tobin said. "I owed it to the community to give back and serving on these boards can be very satisfying."

Tobin was honored this past fall with the Department of Political Science's Outstanding Alumni Award.