Join the founder and CEO of GPARENCY, Ira Zlotowitz as he shares the reason how you can direct your own mortgage, access lenders directly, hire pros by the hour, and take it to the bank.
In marketing, we use the words “disruption” and “new” almost interchangeably. Usually, innovations or new technologies come to market in compliance with industry market standards. Other initiatives, however, come ready to disrupt a space with a new plan and a completely new set of standards. This week, we’re excited to welcome back an incredible guest, Ira Zlotowitz. In our conversation, he discusses his latest, most groundbreaking startup, GPARENCY. The entire mortgage industry infrastructure has changed immensely over the years, and Ira is prepared to be a guiding light for those who want to get into it.
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Disrupting The Mortgage Space With A Unique Startup With Ira Zlotowitz
Ira, thank you so much for joining me on the show.
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
First of all, the two of us have known each other for quite some time. I have been following a lot of the stuff you’ve been doing throughout the years. To a certain extent, even learn from you a lot. I’m not shy to say that. For our readers, they also got to know from you because you’re not the first time guest. It’s the second time. You’re always a disruptor. We’re disrupting over here now by bringing you back. Thank you so much for taking the time on such short notice. I want to get right to it. I know you’re busy. Tell us about this new venture. I opened up LinkedIn. I’ve seen certain things, certain moving pieces of it. You announced a new venture that you’re moving towards. I want our readers to know from you first.
Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. The feelings are mutual. If you want to be a disruptor, we’ll find enough reasons to do this more often. The long and short is that it’s not rocket science to figure out and see that technology and data making their way into everything. Someone at Tesla figured out how to get your car to drive. That’s it. There is nothing else in the middle that can’t be automated at some level. As being in the same business for years and trying to see around the curve, prepping the business for different things that could go and change.
The biggest change and threat is the fact how technology, data social media and the internet, having unlimited data plans. Everyone has the access to the same internet. Watching that there is a slow decline in the value that people are giving to a broker. It used to be that broker was like this magician that can find things that no one had and have access to things only they had connections to. As time is going on, I’m finding that as we started working on larger deals, the clients beat up the fees a little bit more.
It used to be when I started the business, I was competing with one of the brokers and two banks direct and three brokers in a couple of banks direct. Before you know it, I don’t use brokers anymore. The biggest myth that people always thought of is that banks don’t want to talk to clients. That was the best-guarded secret that brokers head. Banks love talking to clients but if their creditworthiness that is their relationship but more importantly, only 20% of clients, commercial real estate owners use a broker exclusively.
Most of them go direct. If you think about it logically, I used to hire brokers, logically, we shouldn’t exist. What is the client needed for? The client is good enough to buy the deal, raise equity, manage the property, deal with the government, deal with all the issues but to talk to a bank that wants to deal with him or her that he needs an intermediary in the middle for, logically that makes sense. I tell people if you’re a broker, a certain percent will make it. When you make it, you can make a lot of money.
We left that. I made a decision that the market’s changing. I said, “I’d rather play in the 80% arena, come up the product to cater to the 80% of owners and probably half of those are brokers that aren’t happy with the fee structure but they have no choice. They need an intermediary and a professional to help them. They have no option. Let me come with a product to cater 90% and that’s the market I want to go after in a very big way.
You founded the GPARENCY. What is GPARENCY? How does it work? Who is it for?
GPARENCY is for every single commercial real estate owner. There is no carve out and fine print. It’s a product that day one, think of it as a regular commercial mortgage broker, the same IRAs a lot of suggested it. The same Michael Weiner who ran my book of business when I was in Eastern. The same Usher Sandberg who ran the banking the same team. Instead of compensating us as a percent of the loan amount, compensate us similarly to how you pay your attorney and every other professional.
[bctt tweet=”Only a certain percent will make it as a broker. But if you do make it, you can make a lot of money.” via=”no”]
You don’t pay an attorney on commission. You pay them by the hour, time and value. Same thing here. We will charge an owner $5,000 from the beginning until the term sheet. After the client signs a term sheet then the client will have an option to pay hourly until closing, an additional 10 to 30 hours, $500 an hour. The most someone will ever pay is $20,000, $5,000 for the first part, max $15,000 for the next. The goal is not to get people to have to even pay all those 30 hours. They should do some of themselves. They have a staff. Lean on their staff.
Over the course that I’m bringing on, we’re breaking news and bringing on a founding partner to the business coming from a major institution that’s going to be in charge of the technology. The goal is to take the tools, technology and data that I use internally as a broker, flip it out and make it client-facing on a subscription model. The long-term play is Mr. Owner pays an annual fee, has a way for your acquisition team to track all their acquisitions. When you want to raise debt or equity, this works for equity also, not just debt.
You could do it yourself, the tools. When you want the human, lean on the human. It would be a lot fewer hours than you have to lean out. It’s not that I’m old as an upsell to get mortgages, it’s a down-sell. Start by using a professional, pay by the hour and get to the closing table. A year from that, pay subscription together.
I know that there is always the actual loan and the relationship as well. In the mortgage industry, it’s about those brokers not having a relationship with the bank. How does someone know which bank is the right fit for the loan?
Number one is that I’m that same broker. The same Ira Zlotowitz when I was fortunate enough to place over $50 billion in my career through Eastern will be the same broker running the deal for you with my same team. The difference is the bill is going to be based on time and money. You have an agency. If I came to you and said, “I want to do an ad campaign. I want to do a brochure,” you’re going to charge me, “You’re a billion-dollar company or a million-dollar company or half a million-dollar company.” Your price is based on how much time and value. I want you to spend a lot of time because it’s important to me.
You can charge me more. If I say, “Give me a quick job,” you can charge me less. Why should a mortgage broker just because the deal is $100 million ask for a $1 million in fee when the deal would have been $1 million? This is the craziest part of this business. I can do a loan for someone, a $100 million deal, a $50 million loan. I’m coming to a closing negotiated fee, $500,000 will be the starting point. The day before closing, the client says, “I changed my mind. I only want to borrow $30 million.” My fee drops to $300,000. They say, “The mortgage is already gone.” I’m going to go to $700,000 because the bank approves 70% of it.” Your fee now is $700,000. How the heck does that make sense?
The plan doesn’t make sense but that’s the way it was. I’m watching the disruption take place. It’s been taking place always for years. It’s a matter of time like travel agents don’t exist. What happens to me? They answer it. That’s the fact. The myth busters, who said you need a relationship to get a deal done? That’s a myth. The bank is dying for you to call them. The bank has a pricing model they gave you at the bank. You go into LinkedIn, every bank will reach you. The banks are advertising their deals. You tried to tell the owner. You don’t even need to pick up the phone to a bank and say, “My name is John Doe. What are your rates?” Do you know how much different the rates will be than you got from your broker?
Roll call. You don’t even know who you are. Maximum a quarter-point. If you learn how to negotiate, say, “I got so much cheaper. Are we in the same boat?” The difference at the end of the day is minuscule. That’s why many people stopped using a broker because all the deep are they realized like, “If a deal could be saved, it’s doable. If it’s not, it’s not.” It’s coming from a major institution that says when broker used to call up and say, “For my client. He is a big owner. I want you to save a ton of money for my client.” You want to lower his rate, give him more interest only.
Behind it’s the closed doors they say, “What’s wrong with this big owner? If he is so big, why does he need a broker to represent them”? It’s the opposite myth buster. Other people are nervous and want to pay a success fee. “Only when I closed?” “Yes.” Other people who are willing to say like an attorney, “I know it’s going to close deals, which is deals done.” I’ll pay you as a professional. The question is where people will say, “How much of a fee would someone be willing to pay guaranteed versus only at closing?”
This is starting with human interaction. Eventually, technology will play a huge role in this long-term. At one point, will there be, let’s say, it’s almost like a bidding option where here is the deal and other banks could come in and play on that. Is it still a one-offer relationship with the bank?
The answer is right now. This is how we operate behind the scenes, we have proprietary technology. It’s called QTS, it’s the acronym for Quotes and Term Sheets. This is where we gather our data from three sources. We have a human team that’s reaching out to as low as 3,000 banks that lend commercial real estate that we have information on them, anywhere from contact information to lending profile. We have public data, what banks are closing where. We have the volume of business that we’re doing the transactions every quarter is tracked.
I type in any address in the United States, this QTS will recommend which bank to go to and I could select the bank and send it to them. One of the things we’re doing and why we named it GPARENCY. It’s a blend of GPS or commercial real estate owners. Transparency, full transparency. You’ll know everything. The idea is that we are looking now. We started already with Customers Bank, the first bank on board. Another 40 banks are interested in building the future standardization, digitization of the commercial Linux space.
We’re going to have 150 strategic partners to go in line with the funding and 150 investors came into the deal and together build out this product. The first thing we’re going to do is when I submit a deal to a bank instead of calling us saying, “Ira, who else did you send this to? Who am I competing against? I want to win the deal.” Full transparency. I’m going to open up the veil and let the bank seal the other banks that are quoting. Let them search my database. Everything is proprietary and confidential. Someone else is dealing and not saying it but when a client gives me a deal and that you go to banks 1 through 10, if bank 11 would hear that I have a deal in this area at this price could say, “Could you send it to me?”
If I’m authorized, “Yes.” I might send a deal to every bank because that’s not the benefit of commercial real estate. It doesn’t work that way. Sometimes make them miss the boat. Make this bank hungry today. They woke up this morning extra hungry. This whole competition. That’s the first thing we’re building all the tools behind the scenes come to bid that in a year from now the client and the bank will watch life, both sides of the equation. There is a human touch that’s also going to be in there always. That’s my belief.
There are three schools of thought that certain brokers think there will never be technology. You can get a test that can drive a car because still, it’s a car in a box. I’m always going to take to rationalize that. Others say no, all-digital rocket mortgage. I want to build a hybrid of rocket mortgage and Robinhood. As a human behind, if you want to call it human and that’s the blend we’re going to find. Blend to end the one point is the person I’m hiring is going to the underwriter. I ask the owner, “Who ran your deal last time? Who made the money?” “The broker.” “Who did the work?” “The underwriter.”
I’m starting to hire underwriters throughout the country. They can start getting appreciated, build deals with their clients directly, they’ll get paid better pay. That’s my business plan. Who is running the deals? Who am I hiring? Top underwriters from all the firms in the country. That’s the business plan. I’ll come in as the broker of record together with Michael Weiner. Who is going to do the heavy lift? The same as any other firm. That’s where the money is going.
Let me ask a couple of follow-up questions on the industry as a whole. Usually, when you hear about somebody that disrupted a market came up with this new app or concept, it’s something very new and an idea or a void in the marketplace that they saw. In your case, it’s a little different because you’re going against everything you’ve built for the client’s sake. How much of your path experience has led you to say, “This is the future and we need to be there because 70% of the people are there?”
I’m not going to against our past belief is my line. Someone asked me, “What do you do?” “I’m a trusted advisor.” I’m never going to change that. As a trusted advisor is that the market has a different set of needs. There is a universe of 80% I want to play for. Someone calls me and says, “I use a broker.” I asked him, “Why do you use a broker?” He said, “What do you mean? He gets my deal closed. He’s on a security blanket. He could get things done.”
“If that’s the case, let me refer you. At Eastern Union, there are some great brokers there. Go to another brokerage firm. If you think you could do it yourself, you need a professional and come to me.” I meet someone who goes to a bank direct, they tell the person, “You want to bank direct? Do you have FOMO? Do you fear that you missed out maybe in a better deal?” He goes, “Yeah but it’s not worth paying $200,000.” “Perfect. For $5,000 I’ll cure your FOMO.”
Let me play the devil’s advocate because, in the real estate market, there is always the concept, “Should I go direct or hire a broker to sell my property?”
Lay it on thick, Meny. Don’t ask me. We’re talking privately.
[bctt tweet=”Never ever get Netflixed in your own business. Always have a long-term vision.” via=”no”]
In the real estate, there is a concept of brokerage and M&A space that I’m a little involved now where these brokers come in and broker your business. The concept is always, you never know which buyer we could reach out to that might be a more strategic buyer or that hungry bank. Sometimes if the broker is on the surface level broker and he has one relationship, maybe it’s a common bank where the developer or whoever’s taking that commercial mortgage knows that bank. They can reach out on LinkedIn but sometimes you find those community banks or banks in different areas that are hungry to enter a market. Is that something that you feel the broker doesn’t bring to the table or it’s not worth the money?
I am that broker. I have that banking team tracking 3,000 banks. No firm in America tracks more banks than we do. That’s what I’ve been doing. It’s the same business. More importantly, you’re mixing M&A as purchases. On an acquisition, a new person, new equity. Someone sold a business for $1 billion. He could invest in real estate. He’s good equity. How do you find them? I’m the same broker, banking team and underwriters. The difference is how are you compensating me? My attorney doesn’t charge a commission, same broker. Over time, the technology flips. That’ll let you even do more of it yourself and lean on the human side even less. Go to real estate that you know that owns twenty buildings.
Decent-sized player, huge player, whatever you want to call them and say, “When is the last time you dealt with a bank that you didn’t know about?” They deal with the same banks over and over again. Everyone knows the banks in the marketplace. Where I was once nervous is a company called Actovia, they’re a data provider. This is public available data. I was always nervous that one day it comes like that is CoStar. What stops CoStar tomorrow morning? You have a deal, type in the address, they’ll tell you which banks are active in that area. Finding that bank in Texas or New York, it’s data at your fingertips. That’s the risk.
Imagine being a positioning currency more of a change of model of how we operate as far as the compensation part than the actual transaction part.
We’re a tech-enabled broker, priced differently and there will be a tech-first broker to go. You have to step back, 80% don’t use brokers. How do they answer questions? They get it done. No problem. I had a broker of mine leave me a couple of years ago to work for a big owner. At that point, the client was paying. One of the things, how much do people pay? When I went to a court-appointed, I’m already crazy disrupting the market. What’s going on? One guy calls me up and says, “Did you ask your rabbi if you could do it?” I asked the rabbi. Do you know what the rabbi told me? “Are there more owners that are going to benefit or brokers that are going to lose?”
What happened long and short is that I started going to big owners. I said, “I’ll do a deal for quarter-point.” What do you think I pay now? The bigger the owner that you can be going direct brokers, “Instead of going to the bank, I want to charge you a quarter.” People don’t know the pricing points that people paying. This owner comes to a broker in my office. He says 90% of his broker’s business was this one client. The owner says, “Mr. Broker comes work for me.” He used to pay us a third of a point. He was down to it. He’s been a ton of deals.
He tells the broker, “Come work for me. I’ll pay you a quarter. You don’t have to split with the company. We will both win.” I told the owner, “You know what the problem is?” I told the broker. I went to lunch with them. I said, “It makes the most sense to you. It sounds great on paper if you live with today but in twelve months from now, you’re a cheap broker like bringing a house. In a year from now. You’re an expensive bully.” A year later they split. They didn’t help me, I lost the client and a broker. Now I have a new competitor. The world is changing. More clients go on themselves.
Look at my own business. I can tell you two pieces. People talk about brokers making millions in this business. Thank God, I was able to train brokers with the grace of God. I did my thing and then God took care. That made $6 million, broke many millions a year. It’s a numbers game. One out of whatever makes those types of money. If you want to interesting things, no mortgage broker. Sales brokers did in business. I believe sales brokers will always be here.
The companies may have issues but the individual sales brokers always are here. No one has made more than $1 million two years in a row. It’s not unless seven years. We made $1 million dollars. No one. It’s a commodity. The marketing of a commodity. It’s not a commodity like gas prices but once you know what you’re doing in the space, no one is getting better or worse.
The question is, why should you switch? It’s tough to get someone to switch. I have brokers who score after six months, they think they can do a basement themselves. The truth is, they’re right. They can do it themselves. Ask any brokers working in a company and not earning 75% commission. It goes up to 75% like I have to pay at Eastern, it’s them. It’s about you. It’s not about the company.
Let me ask you a couple of questions in general for our readers to give them some extra value we have you on the show. This is a transition that you worked on a long time as far as finalizing and finessing the details and transition. Everybody has their risk tolerance. This is a huge switch. As far as where you were, what you have done and entering a new market with God’s help, it’s going to work and as the market is going. What went on in your mind that you could share at least that gave you that says, “This is a risk I want to take?”
I made a decision early on in my career and I will never ever have a Netflix business ever. You’re watching this. You’re strange. You watch Blockbuster get destroyed. I’ll never be Netflix-ed out To me, I always try to have a long-term vision. That’s why over the years if you ask people down me, I was trying different things in the office. I beta test it for years what I’m doing now with different ideas. You can see the whole thing coming together. The change that took place is that there was a company that opened up a couple of years ago.
They’re calling themselves, they’re looking to become the rocket mortgage of commercial. When I saw this company, at least that someone finally gets it. I was monitoring what they were doing. I’m starting to realize that there are so much money going into PropTech and FinTech and this space and people getting all these evaluations. I said, “I got an offer. This is nuts. If I don’t make the move now, how many more years do I have to live?”
That’s what like a Blockbuster in hindsight should Blockbuster have done certain moves. I took a bigger risk in my career. People don’t know it. The bigger risk was, years ago, I realized that brokers always don’t think about leaving. I didn’t have any brokers leaving until that point. Brokers staying that were successful brokers, thinking about leaving. People say Eastern, a lot of turnovers. My turnover was because I was willing to give a shot to anyone out of looking for a job. Give them a shot. I didn’t have successful brokers leaving. I had the non-successful brokers leaving. That’s what a turnover was. Up until years ago, there was no broker who left me. They were on the way up in their career.
Everyone who left was on the way down or they weren’t successful. Years ago, in business school they tell you, you had a choice to go 50-50 with someone for three years. I go, “I only get 25% that I’m for life. Which one do you pick?” Twenty-five percent for life. The mistake that most business owners make is they wait until there is gun to their head and then they try to negotiate. I woke up years ago and I realized I’m spending my whole day trying to keep the brokers happy. I had a meeting with the brokers. I switched the commission structure of the company. The shift of my company went the next morning. I said, “I realized that we have for life.” It’s like, you don’t have to give them golden handcuffs.
There is no reason they should leave. I treat them amazing. I give them all the resources and I’m paying them also. The next morning business went through the roof because every broker that the first time operated is here to stay for life. The business went through the roof. That was the bigger restraint. That means following the businesses growing. The biggest expense for me is the commission. Normally, the business has fixed expenses. If I make money, my money goes up quicker than that. The basis point that’s what took the business to grow.
This move is clear. The mortgage business is going from 60% mortgage broker direct and there is 20% sometimes. I’m watching it shrink. Fees drop. More competition. It’s a matter of time. I’d rather have two years to live. I took the risk. The risk I’m taking here is a risk that if I don’t take it now, I will regret the rest of my life. This is what I was waiting for. The best backing, thank God which happened to me was that I had an offer from venture capital to fund this having those 150 clients, anchors, attorneys, competitors, you name it in every category of commercial real estate became in this deal from multi-billionaires down to people who own their first building.
A whole group of credit investors across the gamut to back it says, “Ira says I could fix it.” I was interviewed. They said they did a research. It’s the largest seed around in commercial real estate. It was a crowdfund. It’s 150 people. I can tell you because you’ve seen it in the community is that I was always into crowdfunding. I was the first to have a crowdfunding campaign where they had the Save Orlando Campaign.
I’m thinking to myself that the funding of my business or the seed around is coming from 150 extremely wealthy, successful real estate investors and believe in the vision where it’s going to. To get in, they’ll throw on $25,000. All that spot that had left is $100,000. They put that one person put in more than $250,000, the rest was $250,000. It’s a $50 million max subscription based on that. To me, I’m calling to a business where it makes it more comforting. Is it nerve-wracking? Yes. If I look and say, “I have an 80% market to go after,” there is no competition in that space.
Let me ask you one more follow-up question on the technology side because this is something that a lot of our readers and we live in a world that almost every company wants to add the technology side to the business because they feel that’s the future. We all know that. That’s a lot of places where they’ve put a lot of money and find out it wasn’t built the right way or they want to call themselves a FinTech company but they are not. They’re just a business, a human interaction they have with technology to help them out. How do you see your infrastructure and how do you make sure that you’re building the technology in the right way for scalability?
[bctt tweet=”Everything you know comes from the gut.” via=”no”]
In this area, I know that there is a lot to know that it’s impossible to know and you don’t know. It’s even worse. I made a decision when I made this move that I’m going with a goal to go public. My goal is to get a 10% market share. That’s it. The market is so large that a 10% market share could be a $10 billion exit. That’s the point. When I opened up, I said one thing, “Everything we know comes from the gut.” Sometimes in life, if people second guess you. “Ira, why did you hire this type of people?” Every move they bring up these moves to you. In my world where I set myself up is that I said, “I’m doing nothing this rounds that some will be able to second guess play Monday morning quarterback.”
It’s making every move. If it doesn’t happen, there is one reason, God decided. You’re not going to say from the way I got the investor group. Every move, the strategy and with God’s help, everything is falling into place. For the last years from day one, I’m always into technology and data. I planned for this move for the last years. Originally, I thought Eastern will do. It went to a quarter-point. I thought Eastern Venture but the world is getting venture capital money. I said, “If I don’t capitalize on that now then people would catch up.” I already have most of the technology or discussing built the foundational things I’ve built. I always had it. To have a technology that is able to calculate which bank to go to.
Is it a high proprietary data technology and all that? I’m sure it’s not AI the way they call AI in the world. In my budget of $15 million, when I went out, I said, “I want to build it.” I went out there. We use Bitping primarily to build the technology for us. Amazing content. They built the technology. It’s amazing. I remember people making fun of it, “Are you crazy spending so much money on technology? What are you doing?” I didn’t make those moves. How would it be positioned to capitalize on this?
I went out there, I took the partners coming out of Freddie Mac, a co-founder and a technology group. One of the things which he explained to me is that not necessarily do you have to build proprietary technology in every area, especially now, you could license things and buy technologies. Look at the Lexus car. They don’t make the Bose sound system. They licensed the Bose sound system and put it into the car. You’re selling a solution that has a solution for a client that he needs all the tools he needs.
You have to be the first one to say, “What’s the solution you’re selling?” Based on the solution, reverse it backward. I have a foundation I built and I put the budget out there. The next big hire we’re going to go after is a CTO. There are only three partners in the business. Family partners, myself, the head of product and the CTO. Those are the three who are going to pick the whole team. We have four developers that work in-house, electrical engineers, everyone has a different turnout. I like to hire people.
Everyone working in the company will have equity, stock options from day one. Everyone is motivated in the same business from day one. I have four engineers. They said, “Don’t beat the egos, came out the titles. I want to get paid and enjoy life. I only read it the best company to work for. That’s my goal. They gave me a budget of all these titles I would have to hire and how long it will take. I have $15 million, I have time. There is no rush. I can do it tomorrow. The one charter is to do it right. I’m going to do it right. If God decides that I merit to be the right person to take this money and to give it out to charities, Amen.
I want to end with one final question. I know this is an important topic so hopefully, our readers would appreciate it. I know that you are very close with your father and a lot of the business acronym that you have and you speak about is from your father. How proud would your father be if you go into the room and say, “This is what I’m doing.”
I said to someone is that my father would say every year, he would say, “Have a happy, sweet New Year.” What’s the sweet? Why sweet? Have a good day. Why sweet? Unfortunately, our people are the world’s society. Is there a God? Is it not? Everyone knows that there is a God. God is going to do what’s good for you. If somebody has cancer, God forbid and they need surgery to cure cancer, this surgery is good for them but it’s not sweet. It’s bitter.
You should have a year just as sweet. From the time I started my career and we opened up Eastern, we had people coming after us. It was always hurdles that we came up to from someone telling you have to cut us out and issues and obstacles to get to this point. To come to a point, we’re making a move that for the first time in my life, I have an idea that was embraced by the whole entire real estate community. Everybody loves the idea except for competing mortgage brokers that are doing large deals. Even then they know this is happening. They think it might happen a little faster.
It’s not me but they know it’s happening. They put the money where the mouth is. There are 150 people, entities, banks, brokerage firms, everything. In every sector, it’s like a validation that these many years to raise this money happened very quickly. I left the field. Someone made me an offer. I called a few clients and they took off. That’s the part where I get started because I could see the end of the movie and said, “Was it worth it?”
I have to take it from here and do good. If I could call the investors. I have no idea of what God has in store for me but I promise you one thing, if it doesn’t work, you’re not going to have anything you need to say. I was dishonest, unethical, should’ve done the business differently will never be a question about that. It’s what a pure business is called. I took money from friends, family that are credit investors and I said, “That’s it.” I’ll be able to look into their face. “I did the honorable thing.”
We don’t have to get an audit for these financials. We’re going to audit financials from day one to make sure there is nothing eccentric, that might have conflicts similar to companies and their conflict of interest builds decisions. Third-party makes every decision that it could ever touch in a conflict. That’s what a promise would be and that’s what I miss the most is that that fight. You go through that fight and you say, “At the end of this day, it was worth it and you justified.” That’s why we’re sitting here. I did get the blessing I got was from, you bring it up is that’s when I went to the quarter points and I put the post that a role model in my life was a poor Irish man.
That’s where the book and I put a post on LinkedIn. I remember one of the brokers coming over to me and saying, “Ira, how are you sure you’re doing a quarter point? Your father’s a rabbi. David Feinstein passed away. What does he say?” He said, “Are there more owners benefiting or brokers?” It was a guilty conscience that people want to try to say, “Is there an issue?” I don’t know Claire but that’s why I missed my dad.
Thank you so much. We wish you tremendous success. Hopefully, you’ll give us a chance at a later date to come back and give us some updates on what’s happening in the market. We root for your success and our business community. We can all use good products. I know that if you are successful, the community at large will benefit from it. Thank you so much. Let’s make it a great day.
Thank you so much.
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About Ira Zlotowitz
CREF revolutionary. Legendary broker. Proud father.
Over the past quarter century, Ira has taken every opportunity to give people more control over their lives and livelihoods – from the autonomy he shows his children to the power his latest venture, GPARENCY, awards commercial real estate owners.
Ira has earned a number of accolades, including:
Youngest president of any Top 10 mortgage brokerage
A Crain’s “Forty Under 40” honoree, while still in his 20s
Mastermind behind Meridian’s rise from $300M to $2B+
Founder and driver of Eastern Union’s $5B in yearly loans
On a personal note, at the age of 19, Ira founded an after-school study program that now has 4,000 children enrolled across the country. Ira currently resides in Lakewood, NJ with his family and is well-known for his philanthropic work in the community and beyond.
