By REW Staff

KNOWN simultaneously as the “most loathed” and “most successful” broker in New York City, marketing maverick Michael Shvo is dipping his toe back into real estate.
The poster boy for excess at the height of the housing boom, Shvo is set to speak at the upcoming Spring Conference being organized by Esther Muller’s Academy for Continuing Education.

At the pinnacle of his marketing career, Shvo was hailed as a genius for developing concepts that sold billions of dollars worth of real estate.

But he disappeared as fast as the celebrity parties he threw when the market crashed and, for the past two years, appears to have been busy building a career as an art aficionado and getting hitched to long-time girlfriend, Turkish model Seren Ceylan.

Muller told Brokers Weekly she had tracked down Shvo — who has been decidedly media-shy in recent years — as a service to her students. He’ll talk about “Lessons Learned” and give his perspective on today’s housing market.

“Michael Shvo is someone who has been in the industry at a very high level and who has faced challenges and had some interesting moments,” said Muller. “Hindsight is a great thing — if you could do it again, what would you do differently?”

“We want the agents to learn something and he travels all over the world doing work.”

Today, he has a more mature perspective of the landscape of the industry. He is very transparent and honest about how he feels.”

The Spring Conference Series takes place April 29, May 1 and 3 at the New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, Presidents Room, 10th Floor. Other confirmed speakers include Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty, Kent Swig, co-chairman of Terra Holdings, Jackie Teplitzky, managing director at Douglas Elliman, Wendy Maitland, senior managing director of sales at Town Residential, and Jason Sheftell, from the NY Daily News.

Agents can receive 22.5 hours DOS-approved credit to renew their license, including the required three credit hours of Fair Housing and Human Rights.

To register, call Edreana at 212-262-2662, or email

Edreana@RealEstateAcademy.com.

http://www.rew-online.com/2013/04/17/have-you-heard-3/

Former US Ambassador, Mr. Martin Indyk and a Roster of Respected Thought Leaders will speak to Single Family Offices and High Net Worth Families at the East Coast Family Office & Wealth Management Conference, Oct 2(nd) at the Union League Club, NYC

In response to increasing demand for international investment and family office knowledge, DC Finance, a leading financial conference organizer and manager of one of the world’s largest family office conferences (http://www.israelwealth.com), will be hosting its East Coast Annual Family Office and Wealth Management Conference in New York City, on October 2, 2013.

Confirmed speakers include Mr. Martin S. Indyk, vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., and former U.S. ambassador to Israel, who will assess geopolitical threats and the options available to address them.

Other leading speakers include: Ms. Kay Koplovitz, Founder of USA Networks; Mr. Nirmal Saverimuttu, Principal at Virgin Group; Mr. David Sable, Global CEO, Y&R, Ms. Raya Strauss Bendror, President and Co-Owner, Strauss Investment, The Strauss Family, Mr. Howard Cooper, CEO of Cooper Family Office and Mr. Guy Schory who is Head of New Ventures at eBay.

Other confirmed speakers include Ms. Wendy Craft, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Fulcrum Equities | Mr. Lowell Sands, Rosewood Resources | Mr. Angelo J. Robles,      CEO, Family Office Association | Mr. David Gorman, Americas Advisor, The Table Club | Ms. Paula Oyer Berezin , President & Chief Strategist , Social Capital | Ms. Candice Beaumont, Managing Director, L. Investments | Mr. Harold F. “Rick” Pitcairn, II, CFA(R), CIO, Pitcairn and Chairman, Wigmore Association | Mr. Steve Oyer, Partner, Grail Partners | Mr. Ira Perlmutter, Head of Family Office Direct Investing, T5 Equity Partners| Mr. Nirmal Saverimuttu, Principal, Virgin Group | Mr. Andy Unanue, Managing Partner, AUA Private Equity Partners | Ms. Karen Wawrzaszek, Managing Director, Pitcairn | Mr. Warner King Babcock, Chairman and CEO, AM Private Enterprises, Inc. | Ms. Nava Michael Tsabari, Academic Director, Family Business Program, Lahav-Executive Education, Recanati Business School, Faculty of Management Tel Aviv University, The Strauss Family | Mr. Michael Oliver Weinberg, Adjunct Associate Professor, Columbia                                  Business School | Mr. Jamie McLaughlin, Owner, J. H. McLaughlin & Co., LLC | Ms. Louis Hanna, Corigin Family Office | Mr. Kent M. Swig, President, Swig Equities, LLC | Mr. Hunter Milborne, Family Member, Milborne Family Office| Ms. Steffi Claiden, Founder/Editor-in-Chief, Family Office Review | Mr. Daniel Shakhani , CEO, RDS Capital.

“For affluent families, it is essential to gain a balanced perspective about evolving domestic and international conditions,” commented Wendy Craft, EVP and General Counsel at Fulcrum Equities, and Chair of the East Coast Conference Steering Committee. “The families and their trusted advisors must determine where and when potentially viable opportunities exist, and develop a plan of action to take advantage of them, while also mitigating what arguably are the greater quantitative and qualitative risks existing in today’s world.”

Addressing a broad range of topics of importance to high net worth individuals and families, the Conference includes a session on “Assessing the Investment Opportunities Related to the Ongoing Technology Revolution”. Moderated by the charismatic veteran serial entrepreneur Dr. Yossi Vardi, the session will include unique insights by industry thought leaders from, Y&R and eBay, and other leading firms, on ways to identify solid growth companies and how to invest correctly in this fast-evolving, lucrative sector

Other topics to be covered via panel sessions and presentations will include inter-generational wealth education and transference, options for establishing and managing single family offices, the global economy, investments, the regulatory environment, family business management, philanthropy and social impact investing.

“The markets are returning to levels not seen since 2008, and yet people are still very cautious about investments,” adds Denny Chared, founder and CEO of DC Finance. “We aim to help families and their advisors learn about the approaches that helped make growth possible during the financial turbulence in recent years, including a unique insight into exciting technology sectors, such as those emerging from Israel at the moment. This will enable families and their advisors to further identify winning investment strategies in markets that are set to drive future growth.”

Further information about the East Coast Family Office and Wealth Management conference can be found at: http://www.nyc-wealth.com/.

To register for the Conference, or for premier sponsorship information, please visit: http://nyc-wealth.com/main/sponsorship_info.

About DC Finance:

DC Finance is Israel’s leading financial conference organizer and the manager of one of the world’s largest family office conferences (http://www.israelwealth.com) as well as the publisher of “Family Wealth” magazine, distributed to 15,000 high net worth families. For more information, please visit: http://eng.dcf.co.il/.

Company Contact: Dana Gazit, DC Finance Ltd., Tel: +972-3-677-7701, dana@dcf.co.il

SOURCE DC Finance Ltd.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-905268.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In fact, Lower Manhattan is in better shape than it’s ever been, Steve says. (Its secret: plenty of sleep, green veggies, and CrossFit.) Newer buildings did extremely well in the storm, and REBNY is forming guidelines on what needs to be done for the future. The 95M SF market—soon to be 100M SF—is larger than every city in the US besides Chicago, he says. If anything, it’s resilient, having been through 9/11 and 25% vacancy in the ‘90s.

Sandy won’t be a stigma for long. “This wasn’t just a Lower Manhattan problem… it’s far more a Tri-State issue,” says Swig Equities prez Kent Swig (right, with moderator Mitch Korbey, a partner at Herrick Feinstein). “We’re probably more prepared than other areas.”

Link: http://www.bisnow.com/commercial-real-estate/new-york/how-downtown-bounced-back/

Home sales skyrocketed in the eastern regions of the Hamptons closest to the beach, real-estate reports show.

The number of East End sales jumped 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the firm Brown Harris Stevens.

And in the same time frame, the sale of homes worth $2.5 million or more jumped a stunning 98 percent as home buyers rushed to buy before 2013 tax hikes went into effect, the firm’s report said.

The average home-sale price for the area was $2.1 million — 27 percent more than the fourth quarter of 2011, the firm said.

In Amagansett, sale prices increased 121 percent — from an average $23.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to an average $51.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Corcoran Group found.

“We can see that people are going farther East. It’s a different landscape and a different lifestyle,” said Ernie Cervi, Corcoran’s Bridgehampton managing director.

Kent M. Swig, President of Swig Equities, LLC, is pleased to announce two new appointments within the property management department of Swig Equities. Anthony Zografos has been appointed as Vice President of Property Management and Kevin Martin as Director of Engineering Services, marking the firm’s continued dedication to its tenants in maintaining premier commercial office properties.

In his new position, Mr. Zografos will oversee the property management operations for 5 Hanover Square, a 330,000 square foot commercial office building as well as 80 Broad Street, a 36-story, 420,000 square foot commercial office building located between Stone and Beaver Streets. Both properties are located in FiDi, Manhattan’s Financial District.

Mr. Zografos brings 20 years of experience in property management in New York City, working with top-tier firms including Tishman Speyer Properties in property management, followed by Equity Office Properties, L.L.C. (EOP), where he was General Manager. During his time at EOP, Mr. Zografos was responsible for management, operations, and development projects for several of the firm’s Class-A commercial office buildings.

“I am very proud to be joining a prominent firm such as Swig Equities and look forward being an integral part in its continued strong presence in the New York City real estate market,” said Mr. Zografos.

Mr. Zografos graduated from PACE University with a degree in Business Administration and is a member of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

Mr. Martin will direct the scheduling coordination and supervision of all engineering projects throughout Swig Equities’ commercial and residential portfolio and is responsible for the planning and implementation of preventative maintenance programs at the firm’s commercial office portfolio, including 110 William Street, 48 Wall Street, 5 Hanover Square, 80 Broad Street, 90 Broad Street and 44 Wall Street. He will be reporting to Joseph Caraciolo who serves as Vice President and Director of Engineering and Construction Services for Swig Equities.

Mr. Martin previously held the position as Chief Engineer and Assistant Building Manager for Jack Resnick & Sons at 485 Madison Avenue, a 305,000 square foot Class-A office building located in Midtown. Mr. Martin was responsible for day to day operations, including the installation and maintenance of all building mechanical systems and coordinated several major capital improvements such as the installation of building management systems, elevator modernizations, façade rehabilitation and a building wide window replacement project.

“I am honored to join Swig Equities, a highly-esteemed organization that is known for its leading commercial building portfolio, and look forward to contributing to the company’s ongoing success,” said Mr. Martin.

Mr. Martin is a graduate of Baruch College and holds a degree in Real Estate and Metropolitan Development. Mr. Martin is also a member of BOMA and the Urban Green Council.

“I am thrilled that Tony and Kevin have joined our Swig Equities team,” said Kent M. Swig. “Both of them bring solid expertise needed to maintain our properties to the highest standards.”

About Swig Equities Swig Equities, LLC is a real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York City with offices in San Francisco. The firm is an active purchaser and developer of prime commercial and residential buildings as well as operating companies and securities. Over the past decade, Swig Equities has purchased and/or developed in excess of $3 billion of properties, which includes 110 William Street, a 32-story, 900,000-square-foot commercial office building; 90 Broad Street, a 25-story, 400,000 square foot office building; 48 Wall Street, a 34-story, 324,000-square-foot office building; 80 Broad Street, a 36-story, 420,000-square-foot office building; 44 Wall Street, a 350,000-square-foot office building; 5 Hanover Square, a 25-story, 335,000-square-foot office building; 770 Lexington Avenue, a 20-story, 175,000-square-foot commercial office building in Midtown Manhattan among others.

LINK: http://newyork.citybizlist.com/article/swig-equities-appoints-anthony-zografos-vp-property-management-kevin-martin-director