What market trend(s) will impact your industry in 2019?
The road ahead for real estate in 2019 is shaping up to be unlike any in recent memory. There are a number of global and local factors that point to growing concern and uncertainty that stand to significantly impact commercial and residential real estate.
What was the best decision that you made in 2018 and how did it impact your business?
I think, unequivocally, hiring my new partner, Davon Peters, a 10-year veteran of the CRE market in Brooklyn and Queens, who right after joining M.C. O’Brien, Inc., assisted in the disposition of four properties in Brooklyn with an aggregate value of over $36 million.
What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2018?
We were awarded numerous projects in Philadelphia including large developments, cultural and healthcare projects.
We are also making an impact on outer boroughs and the metro region of New York City, we have new developer projects in Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey.
What was the best decision that you made in 2018 and how did it impact your business?
We made a $173 million investment in 15 buildings in Queens to modernize and improve infrastructure and amenities. This includes new boilers and HVAC systems, new elevators, new roofs and facades, new hallways and new kitchens and bathrooms.
What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2018?
Assisting in the removal of two large buried oil tanks that were leaking. The tanks were excavated and disposed of and the impacted soil remediated. Had the tanks continued to leak, groundwater would have been impacted causing a larger more expensive situation to correct.
What was an unexpected event that occurred in 2018, and how did it impact your career or personal life?
Receiving recognition from my peers and industry friends as the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) first recipient as the Humanitarian of the Year. This award reiterates the value of volunteering that my parents taught me how important it is to give back to the community and the impact a person can make touching other people in need lives in positive ways.
What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2018?
The most difficult industrial deal is unequivocally the complicated sale of 3800 Veterans Memorial Hwy, Bohemia. This deal was the most time consuming and lengthy deal of 2018 for my brother, Michael Zere and me.
What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2018?
Earning the trust and respect of a new client who repeatedly tells me, “I am so glad that I chose to hire you and your firm as my accountant.”
What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2018?
A client came to me who hired a contractor which failed to pay its subcontractors, was completely behind schedule, was overcharging the client, and had no real written agreement.
What was an unexpected event that occurred in 2018, and how did it impact your career or personal life?
This year I was involved in eight different residential real estate deals that were part of probate estates. Typically, in any given year there might be one or two such deals, so to have eight was unusual and, as it turns out, very gratifying.
