About

Ira Zlotowitz is an industry innovator who has helped to define the commercial real estate profession. He earned accolades as inclusion among Crain’s NY Business’ “Forty Under 40.” In this podcast, he will talk about generating business during COVID19. His career began at Meridian Capital, where Ira integrated mastery of the cold call into the company’s business model. He trained large teams of callers and helped launch offices nationwide. All of these helped trigger unprecedented growth for the company. One year prior to joining Meridian, the firm had closed $300 million in loans. By his final year there four years later, that figure would exceed $3 billion. In 2001, Mr. Zlotowitz joined Abraham Bergman in forming the Eastern Union. He continued to build his reputation for innovation, grit, and industry-wide disruption. Ira has aggressively integrated technology and market data into the company’s business model. In addition, he dramatically accelerated the loan submission process and developed relationships between the company and more than 200 lenders. Eastern Union’s new “Multi-Family Group” recently reset market pricing by introducing an unprecedented quarter-point fee. A “no back-end fees” for refinancing multifamily properties backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Transactions which is also known as “agency refinancings.” The firm’s groundbreaking eCALC app enables investors to fully value and underwrite deals instantaneously and in the palm of their hand. Eastern Union has grown from a four-person Brooklyn startup into a 100+ person firm that has achieved $5 billion in deal volume over the past year. (00:01-03:00) Opening Segment – Introduction of the guest, Ira Zlotowitz into the show – Ira shares something interesting about himself (03:01-20:44) The Journey to Real Estate Investing and Generating business during COVID19 – Ira tells how he got into real estate investing – How to generate business when the marketplace shuts down? – Role of technology and CRM in the business – The steps that Ira took to get to the business plan – Any changes in current processes in making a business plan work? – What happens when there are changes in the process? – Ira talks about his real estate boot camps – Ira shares how did he come up with the training ideas of generating business during COVID19 – How does online training works? What are the processes of remote learning? – Ira shares how he came up with virtual training and boot camps – Is there something Ira would do differently if COVID19 didn’t happen? (20:45-25:15) Real Estate Lessons – Ira’s advice to his younger self – Biggest failure and the lessons Ira learned from it – Importance of hiring an expert in the field – How to take negatives positively – Biggest success and its lessons (25:16-27:00) Talking About the Mortgage Industry – Where does Ira see the industry adding over the next 12 months? – What does Ira see will happen to the overall mortgages industry? (27:01-27:19) BREAK (27:20-27:28) Second Segment – Welcoming listeners back and re-introducing podcast guest, Ira (27:29-30:50) Fire Round – Will Ira change his business strategy after Coronavirus? – Favorite real estate finance or and personal development related book? – Website or tools that Ira recommends – How does Ira give back? – How can Wealth Matters Podcast listeners reach out to Ira? (30:51-31:14) Closing Segment Reach out to Ira via email at iraz@easternunion.com