Real Takk Podcast

Episode 34: Amir Korangy, Founder of The Real Deal: The Pandemic, Black Lives Matter Movement, NYC Protests, & The COVID19 Pandemic

The Founder of The Real Deal Amir Korangy joins me on The Real Takk Podcast.  The Real Deal is a media, publication & events company with a focus on covering residential & commercial real estate news, politics, & history of the NYC, South Florida, Chicago, LA, & the tri-state markets. (also important to note that Since the pandemic, The Real Deal's traffic has gone up 40% to over 4.2M visitors a month (2.8M uniques!)
We discuss his thoughts on COVID19 impacting NYC, The Black Lives Matters movement, where we stand in this historical period, and knocks out some tough questions thrown at him as head of the largest real estate publication firm.  
Amir was born in Tehran, Iran. where his family left after the Islamic Revolution as political refugees and spent time in Paris and Madrid before settling in the Washington DC area. Amir started The Real Deal out of his Brooklyn apartment nearly 20 years ago, shortly before he was joined by his Editor in Chief Stuart Elliot.  The Real Deal’s first hit the map when Donald Trump responded to an article from a previous issue by ripping out the page and hand wrote: “why all the anger, Stuart, love the Donald” to your Brooklyn office.  (this was in response to an article about developers saying Donald wasn’t a “real developer” before the launch of his reality TV show) Amir has a lengthy list of accolades and to mention a few, he was listed in The New York Observer's Power 100 list of the most powerful people in New York Real Estate, in 2013, Inman News named Amir as one of the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in the Media category, & in 2012, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the YJP Young Jewish Professionals.  
You may listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcast, & Podbean.  
 

Episode 33: Gabriel Stulman, Owner & Operator of 9 TOP NYC Restaurants Discuss Implications of COVID19

Gabe Stulman is my guest on this episode of Real Takk.  Gabe owns & operates 10 restaurants in NYC, the majority of them located in the West Village.  We discuss the implications of SBA's PPP system to restaurants, the future of his restaurants, his actions to Congress, and what his relationships are currently like with multiple landlords.  
Hailing from my hometown in Fairfax VA, Gabe moved to NYC post-college working as a bartender, and eventually became an opening partner at Little Owl & market table. in the west village.  Today he’s the CEO of Happy Cooking NYC where is operates the restaurants he founded including the names of Joseph Leonard, Fairfax (formally known as Perla), Fedora, Jeffrey’s Grocery, Bar Sardine, Studio, the GW Bar, Simon & the Whale, & most recently The Jones, located on Great Jones Street.  I encourage you all to follow Gabe and his recent initiatives during covid19 at @gabestulman & information on these restaurants.  

Episode 32: Chris Okada of Okada & Co, State of the NYC Commercial Landscape Amid COVID 19

Chris joins me on The Real Takk Podcast to discuss the 3 most pressing issues facing New Yorkers, in life & work today, the state of the commercial market in NYC, what he thinks the recovery holds for New Yorkers, & shares his come up in the cut-throat world of commercial real estate.  Chris founded Okada & Co in 2005 by himself.  He rose to distinction during the financial crisis of 2009 and its recovery by using the market's lowered state to transact in nearly $1B commercial real estate sales and leasing transactions in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan.  2011 Christopher founded The Okada Acquisition Company to begin acquiring prime office, retail, and multi-family properties in the Midtown and Midtown South submarkets of Manhattan. His Acquisitions include a prime office building in the Herald Square section of Midtown, a brand new luxury condominium development known as 432 West 52nd Street, and few other office and retail properties like 894 Avenue of the Americas, 148 West 24th Street, and the retail at 135 West 52nd Street.
You may follow Chris at ChrisOkada in the following social channels:  
 
LinkedIn: ChristopherOkada
Facebook: @ChrisOkada
Instagram: @ChrisOkada
Twitter: @ChrisOkada

Episode 31: State of the RE Market Amid COVID19 in Denver Colorado

Jessica Northrop from Denver Colorado jumps on the Real Takk Podcast to discuss the state of the Denver Colorado's real estate market amid the Covid19 Crises.  How strong or weak is the Denver market?  Which areas are hot? Which areas are negotiable? How has business changed since the Nationwide shut down?  She's here to reveal it all!  Jessica is the founder of the Compass Denver office.  Learn more about her back on episode 3.  You may follow her on IG @jessica_northrop 

Episode 30: The State of the Philadelphia Real Estate Market During COVID19 Feat Margaux Pelegrin of On The Square Real Estate

I’m pleased to have Margaux Pelegrin of Philadelphia PA join us on The Real Takk Podcast to discuss the state of today's real estate market as we enter the 2nd full month of lockdown.  Margaux entered the industry in 2005.  Born & raised in Ritten House Square, she attended the University of Maryland, was our founding member of Compass Philadelphia back in 2018.  Her team transacts about $67M worth of properties annually, & in 2018 closed around $72M!   You may follow her team on IG @onthesquarerealestate and Margaux at @margauxpelegrin Thank you for coming on Margaux! 
 

Episode 29: The Newport Beach RE Market Amid the COVID 19 Crises Feat Dylan Mason & Mark Taylor of The Mason Taylor Associates

Pleased to join me in this episode are the leaders of our Newport Beach California market Dylan Mason & Mark Taylor of the Mason Taylor Associates.  They come on to discuss their adjusted lifestyle amid the COVID 19 crises, how the market is faring, how they are getting deals done, as well as what they are doing proactively to help their community. 
Dylan has been involved in the luxury real estate market since the age of thirteen where his mother was a real estate broker, & Mark was born in Northern California and moved to his current neighborhood of Costa Mesa 12 years ago.  
These guys are a wealth of knowledge and were gracious enough to spare a few minutes to come on my podcast.  Please give these guys a listen & follow them on IG @MasonTaylorAssociates as well as their website: https://www.masontaylorassociates.com/about

Episode 28: The Wydler Brothers from the DMV Discussing the COVID19 Real Estate Market

Learn from reality!  The Wydler brothers were gracious enough to join me again on another episode of Real Takk to discuss how the real estate market in the DMV is faring amid the COVID19 crises.  These guys are a WEALTH of knowledge and we cover topics from open house foot traffic, inventory in the area, pricing, as well as some funny brotherly banter.  These guys have been featured in The Washington Post, WSJ, Washington Business Journal, Inman News, to name a few.  I love their core principles that their team abides by which are as follows:
1. Do the right thing.
2. Create positive, lasting memories in all our relationships.
3. Make tomorrow better than today.
4. Succeeding as a team while excelling as individuals.
5. Own it and act passionately on it.
6. Support and give back to our team and community.
Please follow them on Instagram at @wydlerbrothers & their website www.wydlerbrothers.com  Thank you always for listening! 

Episode 27: Ari Afshar, TOP Broker in LA, Discussing The Luxury RE Market Amid the COVID19 Crises, & Being an Industry Leader

Ari Afshar joins the Real Takk Podcast to discuss his current life amid the COVID19 Crises, the state of the luxury LA Real Estate Market, where prices have fluctuated before & after, how he's spending his time, how he recruits, manages, and his psychology behind operating a 20+ top producing team in LA. 
Ari the Founding agent in LA.  A native of Beverly Hills he co-founded his own agency in 2008 focusing on the distressed property market. After negotiating thousands of notes with lenders, Ari was selected as one of 8 real estate agents nationwide on Bank of America’s Realtor® Roundtable.   He’s also succeeded as the Founder and CEO of multiple social media marketing, real estate web development and mobile app building companies.  Since 2014, Ari has been involved in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate deals. Ari’s been featured in Forbes, LA Times, yahoo entertainment, Curbed LA, Architectural Digest, & the real deal.
Please follow on IG at @ariafsharandassociates as well as his website: https://www.ariafshar.com/AriAfshar

Episode 26: Jillian Adler, Top Broker in Boston Proper in Doing Business & Closing Deals During COVID 19

Jillian joins The Real Takk Podcast to discuss how she's been closing deals amid the COVID19 crises!  She's been working in Massachusetts Real Estate since 2009, and brings to extensive experience in Boston’s real estate and development markets with over $175M in sales volume since 2012, as part of the Kopman Adler team.
Even in the state of the pandemic we’re in, Jillian’s sold 5 homes between South end, Brookline, & Jamaica Plain, while also collaborating with @americanprovisions & brought 80 lunches to the medical staff at Boston Children’s hospital.
Some fun facts of Jillian: Received B.A. from the University of Massachusetts of Amherst & also ran the Boston Marathon in 2019 to support of the YMCA. She provides a wealth of knowledge to listeners on how to be successful during the mandated 'stay at home warning'.
Follow her on @jillianleigh21 on Instagram, & her properties on https://www.compass.com/agents/jillian-adler/

Episode 25: The State of the Restaurant Industry with Matthew Focht, CEO of Emerging, & Andy Rosenbloom, VP of Marketing for Buyers Edge Platform

Learn, adapt & adjust.  The Restaurant Industry is in a state of emergency right now.  I’m joined by the CEO of Emerging, Matthew Focht & the VP of Marketing for Buyers Edge Platform Andy Rosenbloom.   They’re here to discuss how the COVID19 Crises is affecting our beloved restaurant industry on a national level. 
 
About Emerging: EMERGING optimizes restaurant and entertainment concepts for sustainable growth and profitability. emerging.com
About Buyers Edge Platform:  The Buyers Edge Platform, launched by Foodservice GPO entrepreneur and CEO John Davie, offers contracts, technology, data services and expertise to Manufacturers, Consultants, Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), and Operators of all sizes.
The Buyers Edge Platform: Launched by Foodservice GPO entrepreneur and CEO John Davie, offers contracts, technology, data services and expertise to Manufacturers, Consultants, Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), and Operators of all sizes.
You may follow Andy on Instagram at: @BoweryBleeckerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-rosenbloom/ 
& Matthew on Linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathew-d-focht-89bb88b/