How to Succeed in Manhattan Real Estate | Jonathan Jossen Interview

Jonathan Jossen (00:00)
I believe Manhattan is way undervalued. Just to the other…

major cities in the world. And Manhattan has a history of always coming back. We don’t know the time frame, but we do know that the next jump will be significant. It happened in the 90s, you know, from 86 to 92, and then all of a sudden apartments that were 300,000 were now a million. So that’s very important for clients to understand that it’s going to happen. We just don’t know when it’s going to happen.

But once the 32s, the 40s decide, well, I need a two or three bedroom and there’s only an option for three and you have 20 people that want it, that’s what probably will happen in next couple of years. So navigating that point is also very difficult. But otherwise, it’s just as I sent out a blast yesterday and the day before to different groups of my clients,

watching the numbers start less inventory, apartments are staying on the market shorter periods of time. Those are very important future looking numbers that need to be understood. And if we do get the population starting to move forward in purchasing, that number is going to become a problem.

Erika (02:54)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Jonathan Jossen, who’s been making waves in Manhattan’s real estate scene. Jonathan, it’s awesome to have you on the show today.

Jonathan Jossen (03:09)
Erika, thank you very much. I’m quite thrilled and I’m happy that you sent me the email to be on this show. Thank you very much.

Erika (03:19)
So let’s dive on in Jonathan for those who may not know your story. Give us the rundown. How did you get started in real estate?

Jonathan Jossen (03:28)
I worked on Wall Street, had a family property that needed to be sold, so I decided to get my license. It took about two weeks. Got my license, was playing tennis with a dear friend of mine whose wife turned out to be a very successful real estate broker in Douglas Element. So we went to Douglas Element.

I I had known nothing about how real estate works, know, within as far as with a real estate broker. And we sold the property. I stayed on with Douglas Ellinan for a couple of months, tried to learn the business. And I got bitten by the bug. I love real estate. love, ⁓ you know, you watch HGTV, the…

the porn of real estate. And it’s just quite exciting to walk into an apartment. It’s exciting to have a client that’s really happy, you know, buying, selling. And ⁓ that’s what happened. I just love it. And ⁓ I’m happy every day that I have to go to work and work for clients and find that right property. How’s that?

Erika (04:38)
That’s exciting. Yeah.

What’s your main focus these days, especially with your expertise in Battery Park City?

Jonathan Jossen (04:47)
My main focus is getting clients understanding what’s going on within the market. am a numbers person. ⁓ Understanding where interest rates are, why the markets are different than most of the, you know, in the last 20 years.

are higher than they were a couple of years ago. But before COVID, the market was four and a half, five and a half on a 30 year. So we’re not really that much higher. And understanding why…

There are gems out there. There’s definitely real estate out there that people would want to buy. But everybody’s very skittish with what’s going on and just going on. We won’t pinpoint to the world or United States. But people are just happy renting, and that’s what’s pushing up that market. So my time is I manage quite a few properties for people.

So my time is that my time is marketing my new properties that are coming on the market and I’m available 24 seven to my clients, which is an issue because I I give way too much time to my clients. But that’s how much I love real estate. So that’s what’s really going on now, having everybody understand what the market is and. ⁓ Trying to understand what the future will be.

Erika (07:11)
With a market so dynamic and competitive as Manhattan, how do you navigate that?

Jonathan Jossen (07:20)
Well that’s a very positive, that’s very positive. You have to explain to your clients that you need to be aggressive because there are so few, the inventory is so low. With interest rates high and people are underwater, they refinanced.

So after refinancing, they see, they can rent their apartment at such a great price. So when something does come on the market that’s new and that really is wonderful, you’ll have to explain to your apartment, your clients that they need to move. If that’s the apartment they want, because prices are still low compared to 2015 to 2018.

I believe Manhattan is way undervalued. Just to the other…

major cities in the world. And Manhattan has a history of always coming back. We don’t know the time frame, but we do know that the next jump will be significant. It happened in the 90s, you know, from 86 to 92, and then all of a sudden apartments that were 300,000 were now a million. So that’s very important for clients to understand that it’s going to happen. We just don’t know when it’s going to happen.

But once the 32s, the 40s decide, well, I need a two or three bedroom and there’s only an option for three and you have 20 people that want it, that’s what probably will happen in next couple of years. So navigating that point is also very difficult. But otherwise, it’s just as I sent out a blast yesterday and the day before to different groups of my clients,

watching the numbers start less inventory, apartments are staying on the market shorter periods of time. Those are very important future looking numbers that need to be understood. And if we do get the population starting to move forward in purchasing, that number is going to become a problem.

Erika (09:22)
Yeah. And Jonathan, I know that you are a busy guy. How do you balance the quality of the deals that you’re doing and the speed?

Jonathan Jossen (09:34)
Well, what people interested in real estate don’t really understand is what goes into a deal. How much time. You spend more time, even I have ⁓ a team. I finally found somebody about a year ago. I went through five people that I thought had the diligence that I do ⁓ to work going forward. So balancing the time is very difficult.

⁓ When you have a lot of clients, many clients looking to buy, you have clients, I’m about to put a group of properties on the market, it is difficult. But I am known to show, we are known to show almost at any time of day or even, know, day or almost on any day, depending on what my clients will allow. So balancing time is difficult. ⁓

but with a very strong team, my associate that works with me, we do get it done. And as we grow, as we were talking earlier, I’ve only theoretically been in this business for six years. And as you would ask me, Battery Park City, I live in Battery Park City for 32 years. So when I have a lot of listings in Battery Park City, it’s very easy for me to show. When we start moving away from ⁓ that neighborhood,

It’s a little more involved, but ⁓ we always show. For the sellers, we always show. For the buyers, we’re always fitting in time to take you and make sure that’s the right property. That’s really the trick to real estate is not wasting time and finding what the buyer is looking for, not wasting anybody’s time, knowing exactly what they want.

Erika (12:00)
Yeah, with your Wall Street background, how do you approach analyzing those properties or advising clients in a way that sets you apart?

Jonathan Jossen (12:12)
Well.

I have created my own spreadsheet, because I used to write software. ⁓ I hate to give, I don’t like to give a shout out, but I am an Urban Diggs ⁓ buyer since he started. And he’s just evolved.

to have the best numbers and the best analysis. He dives deep into individual neighborhoods. So that’s one of the tools that I use. ⁓ Boots on the ground. I look at hundreds of listings a week, hundreds. So real time understanding, going through the different city websites. ⁓

But you’d have to actually become my client. ⁓

to get that information because a good client of mine needed to buy a property.

⁓ next to his property. can say the building, he wanted the whole corner of the building. And we slowly got it. It took two years, it wasn’t on the market, but we knew we could buy it. So it’s a matter of figuring out different nuances in the marketplace. All brokers, I think many brokers work the same, but that’s how we get things done. Quietly.

And yeah.

Erika (13:54)
Jonathan, every real estate pro has a story where things got challenging. Maybe a deal went sideways or you had to make a tough call under pressure. Can you share one of those moments and what you learned from it?

Jonathan Jossen (14:10)
Well, your biggest adversaries are the lawyers, the bankers, and the brokers. It’s usually not your client. You know, very rarely does a client back out of one of my deals. I mean, very rarely. ⁓ It’s usually the banker for the seller just, you know, or…

broker, for the seller, if you’re a buyer, has something else in his back pocket, has another buyer, you know, and that’s how a lot of deals get lost, not knowing the true picture from the other side. ⁓

Lawyers can kill deals. Time is of the essence in a deal. And a really, really interesting, ⁓ I can give you one. This was a big deal. A three-four apartment, for me it was a big deal. It was a $7.5 million deal. No names involved. But this is one interest rates of 2.5%. My client wanted to spend money.

He needed to spend money until an 1.5%. Simple as that. I found the perfect property. ⁓ I got myself in the deal. It was a very famous person selling this. They had a buyer in place already. And my buyer was a cash buyer. Did not need to do any due diligence. We did two walk-throughs. We knew the ceiling had to be redone. We knew there was a water tower leak. We knew that was a half a million dollars worth of work to be done just to even…

get past the front door. My client wanted the apartment. I told his lawyer, this is what it is. He’s already approved it. We know the issues. We want to buy it. Simple as that. We’re inserting ourselves in the deal. Let’s get it done. We had one day.

one day to get the deal done. That’s all the lawyer told me and I knew the seller was broker. We were friends. He said, there’s nothing I could do. You have one day to get it all there and your offer is the best offer. It’s yours. Well, I called the lawyer and I say, and I knew the lawyer very well. I said, what’s going on? Well, I haven’t finished my due diligence. I said, there’s no need for due diligence. You just need to submit the offer. Well, two days later, it wasn’t done. We were shut out of the deal.

So that was very disappointing, but I had another deal in my back pocket from my client. And ⁓ it was a better deal. It was a better investment. And I saved the by, bought that, you know, he went full ask on it because he needed to buy it. And ⁓ I gave him a different lawyer. No, I didn’t give him, he used the same lawyer.

And since we were paying a decent price, there was no competition. So, and it was in Tribeca, which is always a place to buy a property. The West Village in Tribeca, always. How’s that? Was that a good deal? And it turned out to be a $7 million deal.

Erika (18:12)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and yeah, always have a.

Wow. Yeah. Always have something in your, in your back pocket. That’s a, that’s really good. And actually I want to kind of transition a bit into, you know, you have ⁓ lots of experience to offer for our listeners who are new to real estate. What’s one piece of advice that you would give to someone who’s just starting off?

Jonathan Jossen (18:45)
Be fully prepared. When you’re going to go into a property, have everything ready. If you’re really a true buyer, you should have your bank on watch. You should have your lawyer prepared. Your broker should make sure you’re getting the right numbers and valuations.

and decide are you buying this, what’s the reason you’re purchasing this property? But you should go into it because when the market turns, the first person that gives the pre-approval or has all their financials and everything ready to go, that’s very important to be prepared. ⁓ And make sure…

that if you’re working with a broker, which you should be, because he’s going to be the most knowledgeable, like Battery Park City. I mean, if you want to buy something in Battery Park City, I’m going to tell you what floor, what building, the views, what you can do in a building, you know, if you’re going to do renovations. Your broker should be prepared to have all those answers. So that’s really the most important. And understand why you’re buying a property.

But you should be using all tools possible. And that’s what your broker should be doing for you.

Erika (20:10)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. As I’m sure you’re familiar with Jonathan, relationships in this industry can be a make or break it type of thing. They can especially be a game changer when you’re new. So what kind of advice would you give to someone networking, whether it’s how they network or what kind of group or mastermind they could join?

Jonathan Jossen (20:34)
Well, as far as being in this business, when you’re working with another broker, you just have to be completely, almost completely transparent. I mean, nice. Brokers are belligerent, they’re short answered, they don’t have time. This is a people business without a doubt, and making everybody’s life as easy as possible.

As far as groups and networking, everybody in your sphere should know that you’re a real estate broker. And to be a real estate broker, you have to embrace it. You can’t be afraid of standing in an elevator and figuring out how to insert yourself in a conversation in real estate.

Everybody in Manhattan talks about real estate. There’s just no doubt it’s on top of their mind. That’s why there’s so many HGTVs, you know, because everybody wants to see it. Everybody wants to know what valuations are, where everybody’s buying. ⁓ Social media is very important. We’re, you know, we’re trying to find our, our mix in the social media. We’re getting more and more involved.

I mean, people talk about a BNI group, but the most important thing is everybody in your neighborhood, every storefront in your neighborhood should know you’re a real estate broker. I mean, Ryan Serhan, love him or hate him, and I love him. To emulate him in what he’s built is a perfect example. And when you read one of his books, he made the gym his office.

I’ve gotten three deals from my dry cleaner and battery park ceiling. So I think that’s a main trick to this business, not being ashamed to be a real estate broker, to embrace it. And that’s what you’re doing. And love it and be as knowledgeable as you can.

Erika (22:47)
Yeah, absolutely. And then Jonathan, what’s the next on the horizon for you? What vision do you have? What goal are you looking to accomplish?

Jonathan Jossen (22:47)
How’s that?

To get to the next level, you know, I’ve done some good deals, six, seven, eight million dollar deals, and ⁓ I look at very high priced understanding ⁓ valuations and what goes into new development. ⁓ But getting to the next level.

you know, dealing with the next type of client that’s looking for, you know, 25 to 500 million dollar property, that would be quite wonderful in understanding, you I understand how difficult those deals can be. ⁓ I have buyers that are looking for very expensive properties, but, you know, just continuing on doing more deals and seeing smiles on people’s faces when I speak to them a year or two later. ⁓

And that’s how my business is growing is by recommendations.

I deal with many of my clients that ⁓ I started with at the beginning. One of my clients continues to buy properties as investments and he was one of my first clients, which is a very big vote of confidence. I get emails from clients all the time, well, what do you think we should do here? What do you think about this? Should we buy the apartment next door? You know, and just figuring out the right answers. continuing on growing my company, know, growing my team.

⁓ I love working at Cochrane. I’m at the Cochrane Group right now. I’ve been there. It’ll be three and a half years coming at the end of December. I think they’re great firm, one of the most powerful in the business. ⁓

and getting the word out on Battery Park City. It’s completely changed. There’s a lot of pitfalls to Battery Park City, you know, with the land lease, but it’s being extended and, you know, just how wonderful a neighborhood it is. ⁓ As I said before, I’ve lived everywhere, ⁓ East Side, mostly on the West Side, ⁓ and it just transcends all the way down. It’s a different world, schools, it’s very private. ⁓

It’s very happy. It’s very healthy. on the water. The parks are second to none. And just getting people to understand why you’d want to live here for 30 years. But Tribeca is great. The village is great. I’m really hot on Gramercy Park right now. ⁓ And I think there’s a great future in Manhattan.

How’s that?

Erika (25:40)
Absolutely.

Jonathan, this has been incredible. If someone wants to reach out, collaborate, or work with you in Manhattan, what’s the best way for them to get in touch?

Jonathan Jossen (25:52)
Well, my phone number, ⁓ my email, I am ⁓ on the web, on Google everywhere, and [email protected]. I have my own website.

call me. You know, I’m always available. I mean, during the summer, there’s a lot of tennis involved and there’s a lot of beach involved, but we’re always involved. You know, we show seven days a week. So I’m always, you know, we’re always at the listings and always looking for new listings and giving you valuations. So I’m always involved. I’m always available. Always.

And I do rent properties. don’t want, you know, we didn’t mention leasing properties. ⁓ You know, they’ve changed all those rules. But brokers are more valuable than ever when it comes to leasing because a lot of the properties are not on the market. You know, they just upended the whole industry and I don’t believe that it was to the betterment of the person looking for a property. But I’m always available. Simple as that.

Erika (27:03)
Jonathan, it’s clear why you’re thriving in Manhattan real estate. Thank you so much for dropping all this knowledge today.

Jonathan Jossen (27:11)
Well, it was my pleasure. You’re a pleasure, Erika. You did a great job for me. You made it really easy. How’s that?

Erika (27:22)
Thank you for our listeners turning in. If you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more heavy hitters like Jonathan who are out there building incredible real estate empires. We’ll see you on the next episode.