10 Real Estate Superstars Still In Their 20s
From students starting their own brokerage firms to exclusively representing Starbucks in Manhattan, these real estate hotshots are making waves in the industry while still in their 20s. Check out who made the list.
Age: 27
Company: The Next Step Realty
Position: CEO
Blair’s company is all about connecting recent college graduates to starter apartments with the same type of service high-end firms reserve for the super rich. Next Step Realty is often able to save students time, stress and money by offering recent grads discounted brokerage fees, 13% instead of the standard 15%, and quickly connecting them to the broker they need. The company is growing quickly and already has three locations in Manhattan.
Age: 26
Company: Hodara Real Estate Group
Position: Owner
Alex started the first student-run brokerage firm in the nation and it’s now worth more than $17M. He came up with the idea when he was only a freshman in college, deciding that the best person to help students find housing is another student. Judging from his company’s explosive growth since its inception in 2009, it looks like he’s on to something.
Age: 29
Company: Douglas Elliman
Position: Associate Broker
One of the youngest and most successful brokers in NYC, Jared’s former clients include French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Olsen twins. He’s been a leader in the NYC commercial real estate market since 2004 (when he was just 18). He sold a full-floor condo on the 47th floor of Trump Palace for $15M not long ago, among many other high-priced properties.
Age: 28
Company: Berko & Associates
Position: COO & Partner
Lee jumped ship from Merrill Lynch a few years ago to become partner and COO at the commercial real estate firm Berko & Associates. He oversees operations for the whole office and facilitated the transaction of the last industrial building in Greenwich Village and the old Schlitz beer bottling facility in Bushwick, which developers plan to turn into work lofts.
Age: 27
Company: Silverstein Properties
Position: Design Associate
Kelly is leading design and construction of 30 Park Place hotel’s public space. “We’re looking to create a great synergy between the lobby and the restaurant, to really create an attraction downtown,” she said of her work at the 82-story, 926-foot tower. And it seems she is doing an excellent job. Silverstein COO Mickey Kupperman had this to say, “I think if you put her on any project, you’d get the same ‘Oh, wow’ result.”
Age: 27 & 28
Company: Douglas Elliman
Position: Real Estate Agents
Modestly known as the “A Team,” one can see why: these brothers successfully sold a townhouse in NYC for $100M. They come from a real estate family—their father develops custom homes in Miami Beach—but went in their own direction when they became real estate agents for New York’s super rich.
Age: 28
Company: HFF
Position: Associate Director
David closed nearly 100 equity, debt and investment sales worth more than $2.2B in his first few years. Now, he’s implementing a five-year strategic plan (that he helped craft) involving high-profile properties and deals, like Broad Street Development’s $173M purchase of 80 Broad St last year.
Age: 25
Company: SCG Retail
Position: Senior Associate
Taryn and another associate are Starbucks’ exclusive real estate representatives in Manhattan. She also co-represented Sweetgreen in leases all over NYC. “I love the action of Manhattan, the retail and the psychology behind co-tenancy,” she says. In her case, doing what you love and doing what’s profitable line up nicely.
Age: 28
Company: Wexler Healthcare Properties at The Corcoran Group
Position: Salesperson
Josef started as an administrative assistant but has worked his way up to being a highly successful salesman. Nowadays he specializes in healthcare properties and has been instrumental in the successful conclusion of more than 100 healthcare real estate transactions.
Age: 27
Company: Moinian Group
Position: Senior Vice President
Senior vice president at his father Joseph’s Moinian Group, Mitchell manages the 1,000-plus unit residential tower on 605 West 42nd St. Mitchell started his career early; he was only in high school when he got an internship at Cushman & Wakefield and applied for a salesperson license the day he turned 18, signing leases soon after.
