YouSaid · the spoken record

Francis Greenburger

lines on the record: 67
first: 2018-12-28
most recent: 2018-12-28
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Well, I've always had a sort of creative side, visual sensitivity, but as I've gotten more and more into development, I realize that I really do have a very keen architectural sense. And development is teamwork. It's team between an architect and a developer. And if you bring that skill, that way to see into things and to appreciate good architecture and also redirect architecture when it goes awry or it's not serving your program, that's a very beneficial relationship. And I've enjoyed my working with a number of fantastic architects, including some of the star architects of the world. So that element of creativity is something that I discovered a little later in my career and would have perhaps liked to have done it sooner.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Tell them to learn as much as they can, of course. I would tell them to learn how to differentiate themselves and to see things, to try to see things that others don't, because that's really, as we discussed earlier, where the margins are. Think like everybody else, margins are thin.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love my family like everybody does. I love my friends. I spend a lot of social time. And I'm also a tennis player and skier.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I have many mistakes or many issues that we deal with. And I think when a business plan goes wrong, the important thing is to switch strategies quickly and either find a way to minimize your losses, or if it's a market correction that you're Putting it extending the business plan timeframe until markets recover, which, for instance, if it's a for sale project going into a rental mode would be a way to do that”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I fail all the time. I always say that I don't bat a thousand. I bat 650. But that's pretty good. So I think recently, I don't know whether it was Bezos or somebody said, if you haven't failed continuously, you're not making progress.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And these days, when we're retrofitting suburban office buildings, which we do a lot, or urban ones for that matter, we're now introducing major amenity lounge spaces, co-working spaces, wellness spaces and food and beverage spaces. So they almost become a little hotel-like. The typical office situation”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think as we were talking when we came in, the nature of the workplace, as well as the nature of where people live, have moved beyond programmatic needs. Move beyond space that you need for your work or for your living. And we're very much involved in what we call experiential moments. How is the space experienced? What is the user experience? What do they want to encounter? And we're seeing dramatic changes in that, that people want amenitized spaces where they can work in a different way, as you were commenting as we were walking in about Bloomberg's offices.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They're completely different. In one case, you're correcting the mistakes that somebody made. In the other case, you're making your own mistakes.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I'm excited about tilting our portfolio to a Europe-centric one, so both our presence in Holland and now in Italy and exploring new places is something that interests me a great deal. The other thing in my career, I spent half of it or more renovating But I hadn't done a lot of new development or new construction starting around 20 years ago or 20 or 25 years ago. I got involved in new construction. And I find that very challenging and very interesting. So I'm happy to be engaged in doing that. It's exciting to me”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So she's both a very, very successful literary agent, but also writes at midnight, I guess, and has produced an incredible Library of her own work.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Here I'll tell you a cute story, I got a new children's book the other day. And there's an agent in our office who, in addition to being an agent, she also writes books herself. And I didn't realize that it was so prolific, that she was so prolific. But if I understand what I got the other day, it's her 50th book.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You read, I mean, I do look at who publishes books and to some degree it can inform the quality of it. But it's certainly not the sole criteria, but sort of interesting to me, just like if I look at a building, I'm interested to know who developed it. I should also, of course, I left it out. I also read continuously the books of my literary agency produces. Of course, I read Dan Brown's book The Second It Arrives and many of our other clients.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Developing my life. Exactly. Exactly. Terrific book, and it talks not only about Zeckendorf himself, but about the whole era in which he was such a dominant figure.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I'm an avid reader. Sometimes I'm reading about real estate. Sometimes I'm reading about history, biography. I think non-real estate recent book that is now shockingly in my mind on the bestseller list. I think it's number one. which is a history of mankind just shows you that there are an extraordinary number of sophisticated readers a remarkable literary work and a remarkable history of mankind but I in real estate it's been a few months I read Sam Zell's new book and thought that there were a number of interesting insights in it. I also read a book, came out a few years ago about all the development that Zeckendorf did in New York that I thought was extraordinarily good and an interesting history of New York real estate.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I my entire career, I always make an effort to listen to what other developers are doing, meet with them, read about them, and learn from them. However, in the end, you have to make your own choices and decisions, and I feel I do. It's informed by understanding the experience of others, but it's not determined by them.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was blessed with several extraordinary mentors, and these names won't mean anything to listeners, but in the publishing business, someone who in the industry is regarded as a giant, it was a German publisher named Rovold, and he was almost like a second parent to me. In the real estate business, there were two people, Charlie Benninson, who is well known in the industry and certainly had a major influence on me in all respects. And there was another man named Milton Newmark, who was a real estate lawyer, who also was a great mentor to me. Mentors are very, very important to me. I feel like I've learned more from them than I have in academic studying.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would certainly be reluctant. And the problem is, of course, the place that I have is attached to a lot of memories. We've had it for 20 years. The kids grew up there. And how do you separate from it? The problem.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's certainly probably the greatest disruption that the business faces. We read every day whether it's special sections in the New York Times or there was a report out this morning. And notwithstanding that politically, the administration has decided that the problem doesn't exist or shouldn't be referred to, it's clearly a major problem and is coming and it's coming quickly. At Time Equities, we've had a Department of Sustainability probably for 10 years, so it's certainly an issue that we pay attention to. It's not a simple one, and how you manage the risk in different situations requires Complex point of view. It's funny I spent the summer talking to my wife about our house, our beach house on Long Island. And do we sell it and move inland? What do we do? And of course, it's problematic because we enjoy being there.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're very cash flow oriented, so we sort of built our business based on having a very strong amount of cash flow because when you're in the flipping business or totally in the for sale business, you're a victim of markets. And what do you do when the markets go south? If you're running an income business, a rental business, you know that there's going to be income there through thick and thin. It may vary to one degree or another. But you're not going to suddenly have the tap go dry.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I start investing in Berlin in about 2003, 2004, and actually ran into a publishing friend when I was at a publishing convention in Frankfurt. and he said, You like real estate, go to Berlin, they're giving it away. And they were. So I bought as much as I could find that made sense in sort of the 2004 to 2010-12 period. But now the market, just like Canada, has become a very, very favorite investment market. Prices have escalated, and we're not able to buy... Properties there at good spreads. We're happy to have the ones that we do, and they're very, very much more valuable than they were when we bought them.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well clearly gaining a very careful understanding of the legal structure is important. Understanding the tax structure and that's sort of the first steps that we take when we think about a country. We look, of course, at sovereign risk, but we look at the legal and tax structure. I remember going to Poland. A lawyer there was lecturing me on how Poland had special laws that non-Polish citizens couldn't own speculative real estate. And then he spent two hours explaining how to get around it. And I said, well, you know, I don't really like to get around things. If I'm not welcome here, thank you. And I can then continue to concentrate on Germany, which certainly”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We spend time looking at Spain, but we found that the tradition, the customs of the market are less transparent there. than we were used to. And so we. We were thinking closely about it and had allied ourselves with some local groups, but nothing came of it. It's funny you mentioned Greece. We were having a discussion about Greece just the other day, and we'll take a look. Portugal is obviously a country that's very much on the rise and has a lot of very positive And I'd like to investigate it more, although I suspect the real estate there has already reflected the upturn in their economy.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, we bought what we did was we bought a portfolio of non-performing loans that was controlled by a Tuscan bank, so most of the loans are in and around Tuscany.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, my most recent, there were really two places that I would think about first is Holland. Holland was at the end of a long recession about two or three years ago. Banks weren't lending and a lot of the local real estate companies were very compromised by the losses that they took during a sustained recession. So real estate was very cheap in Holland and nobody had the ability to execute on it and buy it. So we have bought about 25 or 30 office buildings there in the last two years. That's been an area of great activity to us, and we've set up a small asset management office, so we're very, very Netherlands centric. In addition, we just began and made an investment in Italy. Is working its way out of an enormous pile of Of debt and issues in a similar contrarian play.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“and certainly has a lot of investors and apartment owners who have followed him and who have bought the complexes that he's built there. And I haven't been there recently, but it's enormous. So there is a very close tie to China, to Asia. And of course, it's convenient because you can fly there easily being a West Coast city. And I can imagine that today with the Chinese currency controls, that that will affect the Vancouver market. In fact, I think I've read a little bit that it already has, but clearly the ability of the Chinese to buy outside their market is being severely reduced and compromised at the moment.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, the history of the largest development project that I know of in Vancouver was, of course, owned by Le Kai Shing. Who's perhaps the wealthiest person in Asia? I think he's Hong Kong-based. He also owns 10% of CIBC, one of Canada's largest banks. So his presence, and he's legendary, he's the Warren Buffett of Asia.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They have that much immigration, both international as well as domestic. And people wonder, how long can this continue without some sort of a breather?”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's true that cap rates in Canada have compressed a great deal, and I haven't been able to buy any new income property there for five or more years So, I certainly agree that the market is very expensive Does that mean it's a bubble? Maybe. I think the bubble that's referred to is sometimes a construction boom in Toronto. Toronto has traditionally absorbed 15,000 to 20,000 new units a year, which is extraordinary, and they've been doing it for almost 20 years.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it was a confluence of events. There was an extended recession. But certainly The fact that the Anglophil Led by the Seagram family. A decision to pull out of And what do you”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All. So then I realized what the problem was. And at that particular point in time, that would have been 96 or 97, pricing did not really reflect Problems that were going on, but by'97'98 they did, and that's when I made my first purch”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Lovely city. I've been dealing with a broker who was based in Montreal on a U.S. transaction, which we completed. And he said, hey, you should come up here. There are some great buys, and it's very inexpensive. And I went up there, and I had, he'd arranged a lunch with a bunch of developers, bankers, and it would seem very pleasant until we got to dessert, and then war broke out over the... French English separatism.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think I have no particular knowledge. I think Trump has left the real estate world. and obviously become wholly devoted to his Activities and seems to have transferred all of his allegiances to the right wing base. he credits with his election”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I went to that meeting and Trump was there. And I think I was, people were kind of hemming and hawing. And I said, come on, a sidewalk cost us $100,000. Our whole portfolios are at risk here, and I immediately agreed to make a substantial contribution. And Trump was number two. And then the others fell in line. So we obviously had a very different point of view at that time. But if he has a good memory, he certainly knows that this was a pivotal issue that has existed over a long period of time. So yes, I was very surprised to see him not appreciate the importance of what was evolving.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can tell you a funny story, Barry. Ronald Reagan made the same proposal in 1982 Number of the major New York real estate families led by Larry Tish called an emergency meeting. They wanted to raise $2 million or $5 million overnight in order to fight the legislation that was being proposed, same salt kind of.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In 200 I think it certainly took me by surprise. And I think it wasn't a Most people who work in an industry, you might know a lot about your industry, but you don't necessarily know global finances as well as you might. I mean, we all take it into consideration. And the system was... Was really a banking and finance problem as opposed to A real estate problem.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the commercial financing of income properties, whatever their type, residential, office, industrial, the markets are pretty liquid. And although the market has maintained decent discipline, there is more flexibility now in things like repayment terms. So we're seeing a lot of interest-only loans rather than self-amortizing or 10-year amortizing loans.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think, again, the credit markets are bifurcated, and when people refer to the problems of getting mortgages, they're usually talking about the market for home mortgages. And there the regulators, the government, reacting to the last crisis, which seemed to enfranchise too many borrowers, became very, very restrictive. I remember, as perhaps you did, that I think it was Bernanke who couldn't get a mortgage himself. In any case,”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think real estate is always in two cycles. One is its own cycle, supply and demand. In a particular submarket, and the other is what's the financing mark like and what is the ability of purchasers or renters to consume additional real estate. I think the economy generally, bankers say we're in the 10th, now 11th inning of a nine-inning game. And so we all sort of know that intuitively. And that's, of course, a concern. Different submarkets have different characteristics. We tend to be opportunistic and we look for properties that are underperforming in a given market and real estate tends to exist over long periods of time. So we don't think in 12, 24 month segments, we think in five and ten-year segments. So we could be in and out of the cycle within that period of time.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, actually, Time Equities is a very national and international company. We own property in 30 states. We own property in six countries, U.S., Canada, Germany, Holland, Italy, and one property in the Caribbean.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“to protect the owner. I mean, normally you have insurance, et cetera, but God forbid some very, very unexpected event occurs if it's owned by an ALC, you would be protected. Whereas if you owned it in your own name, you would be totally reliant on your insurance, which may be fully adequate, but a very cautious lawyer would recommend an LLC.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“and many lawyers would advise their clients regardless of whether they're concerned about their identity or not to purchase through what's called a single purpose LLC.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think LLCs exist for two reasons. In some cases it may be anonymity, but in other cases it's a simple legal protection against personal liability.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“maybe half You know, I think it was a confluence of events which are often what occurs, and those events are a combination of increased supply. Misperception of the depth of demand. So, you know, people see a few apartments or, you know, 100 apartments being sold at a certain price point, and developers extrapolate that into being a market for $1,000 or $2,000. So often under the market system, we really don't know when we've oversupplied the market till things stop selling. And the other... Factor, which I think is coming into play now, is that as a result of the tax legislation that was recently passed, New York and some other states that may be high service states but have to have high taxes to support them are in disfavor and I'm sure that's in the minds of some wealthy people who are thinking of locating here.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think in terms of... The market is bifurcated. If it's housing that is at a low price point, which for New York City means below $3 million. There's still a reasonably active market. The super luxury market has cooled off dramatically, and I would say that this is not a time that I would want to be building super luxury housing. And I think some of the projects that are sort of caught in the middle right now that are being built are going to have trouble selling their units.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think the people are flexible, but there is a NIMBY kind of mentality, particularly depending on the type of housing that's being created. We undertook to build a major project in Brooklyn, in downtown Brooklyn. And when I proudly told the borough president that we were including a major component of affordable housing, he said, no way, not in that neighborhood. I couldn't believe my ears that this Politician was not favoring affordable housing. Eventually overcame that because I explained that it was being co-sponsored by the Actors Fund and that some of the people there would be formally homeless people. Some of the other people were going to be retired actors who needed housing, and that somehow made it more politically acceptable.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, in the early 80s, I was undertaking my first renovation. It was a building in Brooklyn Heights, actually. And I watched the prime rate soar all the way. I can't remember it hit 18 or 19%, but it was astronomic. And actually, it was an inverted yield curve, so the long rates were lower. You could borrow five-year money at about 14.75%, mortgage money. And what we did in those days, the bank had a way that you could buy the rate down. You paid them a certain amount up front. So the homeowner would get a mortgage at 12.3 quarters percent, which in that crazy environment seemed like a good rate. And so that was how we went about selling some of our units. The rest we ended up renting and selling a few years later when the market stabilized.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I represented a psychologist, a popular psychologist from California, a man named George Bach. And he often stayed with me in New York when he was here, and he'd just come back from a sexology conference where the author of the G-Spot Beverly Whipple had made a presentation about her research and theories. And he said to me, look, Francis, you should get a hold of her and she should write a book. So I said, Okay, I've never heard of the G-Spot. I decided that I felt it was more appropriate to have a woman agent in my office pursue it with her, which she did, and we signed her up and the rest is history.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We only work with Stephen for a moment in time. certain issues that came up in his mind regarding conflicts that he felt we had with other clients. Before we were represented, and he was working directly with Doubleday. In the 70s, theoretically in a way to help authors because we didn't have income averaging. So if you earned a lot of money one year, you'd pay a very high rate of income tax. And if you earned less the next year, you couldn't balance the two years. I think later on in tax legislation, you could do that. But anyway, at that time, so... Publishers and authors created this sort of maximum earning concept that they put in contracts purportedly to help the authors. But what happened in Stephen King's case was that his earnings were so Enormous That what seemed like a reasonable annual amount initially became a 100-year payout.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think publishing was evolving, distribution of paperbacks. Was getting wider. Book club distribution was strengthening. So the revenues that a very successful author could command were growing. And you saw a leapfrogging of the value of brand name authors during that period.”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I worked actively for about a decade. and sort of 50-50 with my real estate activities. And then I cut back the agency work. It's probably, I still own the agency today. Probably five percent or less of my tim”
2018-12-28 · Masters in Business · Francis Greenburger Discusses Real-Estate Development (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source