Being the Best at What We Do (.pdf)

Little did Dan Margulies realize when he left the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) last year to join Georgia Malone & Co., Inc., that there would be so much in common between the two positions.

As an expert on multi-family housing and rent regulation, Margulies discovered that whether you are a real estate broker, buyer or seller in New York, you have to understand the risks and rewards of a piece of property before you can even begin the deal-making process.

"When I switched over to the brokerage side of the real estate business, I thought everything I did would be transaction-oriented," said Margulies. "But, it is just as much about advising and educating buyers and sellers on the potential of a property. That is almost exactly what I was doing for 17 years at CHIP, which is a trade association of multi-family owners."

Margulies' "quirky interest in technical details" and his ability to analyze property values and negotiate with landlords proved particularly useful with Apartment Investment & Management Company, (AIMCO), a Georgia Malone client and one of the nation's largest apartment REITs. Georgia Malone was charged with identifying and acquiring an increasing number of apartment portfolios for sale in New York for AIMCO, while providing lucrative, tax-saving opportunities to apartment building owners who want to sell their properties.

"I was excited that Georgia Malone & Co. represents the first REIT willing to buy regulated apartment buildings in this market," said Margulies. "For years I had felt that offering tax-deferred sales would unlock a lot of family properties that owners felt they couldn't sell because the tax bite would have been prohibitive.

"AIMCO will pay competitive prices in cash for buildings, or use Operating Partnership units, giving owners the opportunity to plan their taxes and investments logically and cost-effectively," said Margulies. "By taking OP units instead of cash for all or part of their buildings, owners can defer capital gains taxes, secure a steady income, resolve partnership and family issues, diversify their portfolios and do more creative estate planning. This is something that previously had been missing in the market."

Margulies has advised literally hundreds of landlords on the management of multi-million-dollar portfolios. His knowledge and background in rent regulation mesh well with that of Georgia Malone, president of the six-year-old agency that bears her name. Malone's expertise in landlord/tenant issues was honed from her 16-year experience as a lawyer in private practice, as a landlord/developer/lobbyist and adjunct professor in commercial tenant and landlord law at NYU. These attributes, coupled with the firm's team approach and vast roster of contacts and relationships with developers, REITs and owners, enabled Georgia Malone & Co. to close on 13 buildings for AIMCO, since April 2003, including 311-313 East 73rd Street and a Columbus Avenue mixed-use block-front of five buildings between 68th and 69th Streets. Georgia Malone & Co. also engineered AIMCO's acquisition of an 841-unit apartment complex in Duchess County, New York.

"The key to our success with AIMCO and other clients is our entrepreneurial approach for getting deals that are not yet on the market," said Malone. "A lot of brokers are trained strictly in the rules, regulations and procedures of the real estate industry and are therefore somewhat limited by their training. Our unique staff of entrepreneurs, lawyers, and business executives like Dan know how to think creatively and look for out-of-the-box solutions that will lead to these kinds of exclusive deals.

Georgia Malone & Co. is also in contract for AIMCO with six apartment buildings in A and B+ locations on the Upper East Side, which are scheduled to close in January. Spearheaded by Margulies, an active search is also underway for prime multi-family properties in Long Island, Westchester and the Hudson Valley area.

Georgia Malone & Co. has also brokered such outstanding New York City properties as the 42nd Street Hilton Hotel and the Embassy Suites Hotel in Battery Park City, and co-developed 9 West 20th Street.

Despite increasing business, "I think we will probably remain a boutique agency in the sense that our company principals will always deal directly with our clients," said Margulies. "We simply want to be the best at what we do."