ABC (Always Be Closing) / SBS (Sometimes Be Selling)

I often write about Signature Group’s acquisition process because I love buying buildings, but this week I’d like to share the other side of the deal: the sale (possibly because we just accomplished quite an impressive one).  Due to some external tax opportunities we discovered after owning a small portfolio of apartment units in Queens for a little more than 5 years, we decided to sell.  

"And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department." - Andrew Carnegie

We never use brokers to help us source deals on the buy side, but when it comes to selling we really do like to hand it off to them.  In this case we used a nonexclusive broker group, gave operating information to a number of those who were interested, and let them compete.  We received offers ranging from $15M to $21M. The most persistent broker brought us the best price and terms, and ultimately did the deal.  

A big part of our business model is buying right.  Of course everyone would agree on this, but it’s important to remember to also focus on sale, structure, and negotiations.  We definitely mastered this art on this deal.  

"Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs." - Henry Ford

Making Miracles Happen in NYC

CNNMoney reports that the average cost of a wedding as of January 2013 is $28,400 nationwide, and almost $77,000 in Manhattan.

So when my brother-in-law told me that his budget for his Saturday evening, June, Manhattan wedding was $4,000, I had a private chuckle and waited to see what would happen. When his first catering idea of a gourmet taco truck fell through (I still would have loved to see that), he remained confident that he could spend $10 per person on the food. I can’t buy lunch for myself for that price.

On June 8, 2013, my brother-in-law married the woman of his dreams in Manhattan. They had a beautiful ceremony and threw a festive celebration. Everyone was well fed and served plenty of alcohol, and we danced all night. There were wedding cupcakes with freshly made whipped cream and berries on top, and there are plenty of professional-quality photographs to document the occasion.

The final cost of the entire wedding was indeed less than $4,000. This is a rounding error for many Manhattan weddings, where many brides couldn’t even finance the flowers with that much money.

My brother-in-law did something that most people would consider impossible. But he had a woman he couldn’t wait to marry, an idea for a beautiful ceremony and a smash of a party with his friends and family, and a budget that he couldn’t exceed. He believed, and he made it happen.

I would have never thought of my ultra-liberal, Bed-Sty, thrift store brother-in-law as an entrepreneur, but he pulled off an incredibly entrepreneurial stunt if I ever saw one.

The ceremony was in the serenity of Central Park’s Conservatory Garden. His best friend became ordained on-line and performed the ceremony. Permit: $400. Best friend as officiant: priceless.

The party was at a community center in Hell’s Kitchen with a European-like courtyard where dinner was served under the stars and Manhattan skyline. The director of the center ran around all night helping with whatever the task of the moment was. Rental: $1,000. Director bending over backward to help: priceless.

The guests were served delicious Creole cuisine at a buffet with more than enough spicy chicken, rice and beans, and vegetarian options. Catering for 80 guests: $900.

We drank Yuengling, Prosecco and wine all night. Instead of paying pricey hotel premiums, he likely purchased the alcohol at Costco for a savings in the 10s of thousands.

Bro-in-law’s friend “spun” the tunes from his MacBook, and kept the dancing going all night. Another friend snapped pics all night. Of course neither charged a dime. Another friend lovingly made all of the desserts and provided them as a gift to the bride and groom.

After all other incidentals, they did not exceed their budget. I was so impressed and inspired by this feat. It just goes to show that when creative people are given an opportunity to make the impossible happen, there are those who take charge, think creatively, go outside the box (or hotel), and make it happen. There are also those who run off and elope. Fortunately for me and all the guests at last weekend's festivities, Jordan followed his heart and made it happen.

Whenever I hear people say they can’t get something done in NYC because of the outrageous cost of doing business or the red-tape, I am going to be telling this story of a young man and his dream wedding.

Jordan - Congratulations on marrying the love of your life and for creating a meaningful, spectacular wedding out of what many in Manhattan consider pocket change. You are an inspiration. Best wishes to you and your beautiful bride.

App Dreams

There is mystical talk of the Wow! features the iPhone 6 will have when it appears, but no launch date has yet been speculated.  Even so, my 10 year old daughter has begun her marketing campaign to acquire one of the first specimens and replace her “ancient” iPhone 4.  As an early adopter myself, it takes a lot of restraint to not spoil my kids when it comes to technology.  It’s interesting to watch kids today not only enjoy technology (if not obsess over it), but also anticipate the next breakthrough more and more.  

This weekend, I took my 2 young daughters to the World Science Festival at NYU.  We attended a seminar called “Cool Jobs” where four scientists, three of whom were women, spoke about their cool science jobs to an auditorium full of kids.  I think this is the first “seminar” my kids ever attended, and they were fascinated.  They heard from a food scientist, video game designer, roboticist, and biomedical engineer who specializes in nanotechnology.    

While scientists have historically (and currently) been branded as nerds, it seems that with the boom of social media there is now an extreme cool factor to the nerdiness.  Nanotechnology seemed to me to be the most abstract job in the seminar, but the biomedical engineer Michelle Khine was the most dynamic presenter of them all and the one that made the biggest impression on my daughters.  My kids’ first seminar, and a bunch of scientists made it fun!

My younger daughter participated in a robotics demonstration where she hid behind movable walls on-stage while other kids tried to find her remotely using a robot.  Technology that would ultimately be used for post-natural disaster search and rescue or a quest for life on Mars was able to be explained to children using the game of hide n seek.  As children become more engrossed and interconnected to technology, their ability to imagine the future is blossoming.  When my kids graduate from college there will probably be so many new types of careers available that we aren’t even dreaming of yet.

So while we are waiting to see what the iPhone 6 will ultimately do to make our lives better, easier, faster, more interesting, more fun, and more fulfilling, my daughter can continue to dream about the possibilities, butter me up, and just make do.  I think she’ll manage, but the anticipation is priceless.

What features are you looking forward to in your next Smartphone?

Weekend Warrior

At 12am on Saturday morning, when most of NY was asleep, a YPO buddy, a retired Army medic I recently befriended, and I were riding mountain bikes through the woods in the pitch dark precisely sliced by narrow lights shining from our headlamps.  We were at the start of an 18-hour adventure race that would take us running in the woods, mountain biking up very steep hills, and kayaking down a very shallow and cold river. 

I was given a packing list, which included a wet suit, mountain bike, knife, survival blanket and first aid kit. We were told to meet in New Paltz, NY at 9 pm on Friday night, where we would get on a bus to travel to an undisclosed location about an hour away.  The event would start at midnight.  We had to ride around in the woods in the dark on mountain bikes, wearing headlamps and reading topo maps to try to find hidden check-points and gather as many points as we could.   

We were the studs on the bikes.  My Army recruit was an excellent move.  He could read a map like his life depended on it because … well, his life had, until very recently, depended on it.  When you have a bunch of guys in the woods riding around with headlamps, it’s hard for the other athletes not to follow the guys who look like they know what they are doing.  So we had an ET-esque bike train behind us for a while.  We were the popular guys, at least for a few hours.  

We rode around in the woods in the dark on our bikes until 5 am, when first light was starting to break.  We were so hot from the bikes that we decided not to don our wet suits for the 7-mile kayak leg.  It didn’t take long to realize what a bad move that was.  The water was low, so we were in the water more than in the boats.  I was just hoping I would still have all of my toes and fingers by the time we finished, which ended up being 5 hours later. 

When we got back on the bikes after kayaking our Army medic fell a little behind (it was actually his first time riding a mountain bike), and it didn’t take long until we lost each other which is a huge no-no in adventure racing.  You must be within sight of your teammates at all times.  This blip technically disqualified us from receiving an official score.  But hey, it added a new twist for us, and we weren’t about to quit without finishing what we started.  

We tried to find him 1980’s style, by just riding around and trying to guess where he may have turned differently from us.  After an hour we realized that the 80’s were a long time ago and we have been completely deprogrammed, so we pulled yet another adventure race no-no and whipped out the iPhone. We emailed him, and he was able to direct us to the tree under which he was taking a nap.  If I took anything away from this race, it’s the pride that I outlasted a sub-30 year-old ex-Army medic.  

We found the finish line 2 hours after things were all rolled and wrapped up, but we made it home in one piece.  And if being awake for 38 hours straights wasn’t enough, I was still able to join my daughter’s 9th birthday sleepover party in time for cake and the lengthy process of getting them to go to sleep.  I always like to add my own endurance challenge to the end of every race.  

What’s next???

Please support my 100-mile run for IM Able!

On behalf of the IM ABLE Foundation, on June 29, 2013 I will run a 100-mile loop around New York City with The Great New York 100 Mile Running Exhibition to raise money for people who are not able do this on their own two feet. In 2007, the IM ABLE Foundation was created to build on the active lifestyles that founder, Chris Kaag, a disabled United States Marine, promotes for individuals with disabilities. IM ABLEs goal is to help all individuals realize the potential to go further and push harder than their preconceived limits, because once this potential is realized, the possibilities are endless. With handcycles, racing chairs, adaptive skis and other advancements in technology, it is possible for anyone who has a disability to increase their fitness level. Never forget to appreciate what you CAN do and GET UP AND MOVE!!!  

Please join me in helping people with disabilities leave those limitations in their dust.  Click here to help.

Rogue Entrepreneurs Get Second Chance

“What would it be like if you were known for the worst thing that you ever did in your life?”

This is the question that Catherine Rohr asked herself and others when she founded Defy Ventures, a nonprofit organization that seeks to break the cycle of incarceration in the US by equipping men with criminal histories with the power to leverage their innate entrepreneurial skills to create profitable, sustainable, legal enterprises.  

During a prison visit with a Christian outreach program, Catherine observed that former inmates who ran powerful gangs or profitable drug rings have similar skills to those of successful business people.  They tragically channelled their skills toward illegal activities, but fortunately, they were caught and paid their time, and Catherine recognized that they could put these same skills to productive use, create profitable businesses, and become contributing members to society.  

In my business, I often look for the outliers who don’t fit the traditional definition of a real estate partner.  My first big partner was the guy who I bought pizza from a couple of times a week.  Catherine has taken this concept to a whole new level and has found promise, potential, hope, and success in a group of human beings that would most likely not have been given much of a chance beyond menial minimum wage jobs.  

Catherine has taught me that there is always a bright side to every situation, and we need to search for it and nurture it no matter how hard it may seem.  

Check out defyventures.org to learn more about this fascinating initiative.

Have you given someone a second change today?

The Day After Boston

As our country’s leaders work to figure out who carried out the horrific act of terrorism at the Boston Marathon yesterday, as well as why and how, I feel helpless, angry, scared, and desperate to figure out what we can do to move on in the face of such senseless violence and death. 

On September 11, 2001, my wife was pregnant and at a doctor’s appointment when the Twin Towers fell.  As she sat there wondering why she was bringing a child into this crazy world, her doctor asked if she really wanted to bring a child into this world.  What ensued was a baby boom.  Rather than retreat and give in to the terrorism, people became more family-focused and aimed to populate the world with more good people, the anti-terrorist movement.

Who knows what life will bring us with each passing day?  Plan for the future, but live in the moment.  Teach your children ethical values and ensure them that you will do everything in your power to keep them safe.  What else can we do?