What brings you to Florida?
I’m here in Tampa doing some mortgage operations work and
writing when I can. A piece I wrote two
years ago in The Huffington Post and Dissident Voice was about the easier
access to Cuba for real estate investments. Today in 2019 the circumstances
have changed.
Where can we find you on the speaking circuit?
Periodically I get unsolicited inquires to speak regarding
real estate investments, but because of time constraints, I’m unable to
participate. This was especially so
after The Flip in 2011.
Exciting that speaking bureaus are started to reach out again. Lots to say about real estate today. Talking to small investor groups is still a
poignant experience in 2019. From the
bling-bling in Miami, to the ultra-high rises in Midtown Manhattan, real estate
is back despite the upward spike in interest rates over the past 2 years. Still lots of buying.
What types of groups do you speak in front of?
In terms of requests, it’s usually the REIC’s, which stands
for Real Estate Investment Clubs, and CREIC’s, Commercial Real Estate
Investment Clubs. They’re a nationwide
group of business clubs that tribe together and talk about real estate deals,
mortgage leads, investment strategies.
Pretty much anything real estate related that produces an income stream.
Aside from speaking engagements, which of your three books
do investors usually ask you about?
Most definitely, The Flip, since the subject matter is part
and parcel with what they do, which is buy real estate. As for The Essayist, not so much. And the third book, The Broker, which hasn’t
been released yet, it’s hard to say since that deals with real estate from the
commercial brokerage side of it. I’ll
let you know once it comes out.
Can you tell us about The Broker
It’s a memoir that lends itself as a cross between Death of
a Salesman meets Glengarry, Glen Ross.
In short, The Broker chronicles the pathos of middle-aged men
experiencing career failure, the nuts and bolts of real estate brokerage, and
racism – as filtered through the eyes of a Black Italian Jew, raised in part,
in South Central Los Angeles to West Los Angeles in the 1960’s and 70’s.