Property management is about people. In today's episode, Michael Feldman will speak on identifying, acquiring, and retaining talent. Michael is the Co-founder and CEO of Choice New York Companies; which provides an array of 3rd Party Real Estate Services such as Property Management, Building Staffing, and Residential Brokerage on medium and large-scale buildings in New York City.

Michael lived in Los Angeles for a few years. He was in the movie business, behind the camera, doing location scout, location managing on major films mostly for Sony. There he met some of the wealthiest people and one of them was in the parking lot business. When he lost his job in 2008, he ventured into property management. He started the business with no experience in the field, knew no one in the industry, no client, no prospective clients, and no business plan. But today, they have 300 employees, 250 clients, and 17,000 residents in the toughest but perhaps the best market for Property Management in the country, New York City.

Key Points from This Episode

• Why and how did Michael get into property management?
• What did their growth look like at the beginning?
• Michael talks about an employee who was "in the wrong seat" but went from floundering to flourishing when he moved her.
• Michael speaks on the things that were helpful to him in identifying, acquiring, and retaining talent.
• What is the biggest component of hiring the best people?
• What are the specific traits that he looks for when recruiting people?
• At what point did he bring on an in-house recruiter?
• What's the number one thing that has contributed to his success?

Tweetables:

"To be candid, I've never loved real estate, but I love running a business and I'm passionate about being successful. And I think if you're passionate about being successful, that's where the perseverance comes from because otherwise, it's tough." [00:07:31]

"Sooner or later, the cream always rises to the top. You may not be on your timeline if you're an ambitious young buck or doe, so to speak, but it will happen." [00:11:50]

"It's certainly not luck in property management and real estate, whether you make it or not. If you think it is, that's just an easy excuse for your lack of success." [00:13:10]

"If you hire great people, they just make everything so easy." [00:16:03]

Links Mentioned in Today's Episode

Email Michael Feldman

Choice New York Companies website

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don't by Jim Collins

About Michael Feldman

Michael is co-founder and CEO of Choice New York Companies which provides an array of 3rd party real estate services such as property management, building staffing, and residential brokerage on medium and large-scale buildings in New York City. He focuses his day-to-day activities on business acquisitions, brand awareness strategy, staff recruitment, talent retention, and select client advisory engagements.

Prior to co-founding Choice New York Management, he was a managing director at AFC Capital, a boutique commercial real estate investment bank. There he focused on securing debt and equity in multifamily, retail, and office transactions throughout the United States.