Inside The Jcon Real Estate Summit

Saul Friedman, managing partner, Saul N. Friedman and Co., JCON seminar speaker: Understanding Your Financials From a Bank’s Perspective

F

or those looking for thought leadership in their field, mentors and a solid support system are essential. JCON, a Jewish conference network based in Brooklyn, is doing just that — working to offer a plethora of resources to Jewish entrepreneurs. For their latest conference, they partnered up with Mishpacha Media Group in order to best serve the needs of the klal. Last Tuesday, July 9th, was the fourth annual JCON Real Estate Summit, drawing a record crowd of over 600 real estate professionals from the Tristate area.

In his keynote speech introduction, Mishpacha’s CEO, Avi Lazar, explained why the brand felt the need to get involved. “We have written extensively about the growing struggle within our community to financially support a family, in Mishpacha Magazine and 2.0 — our new business and innovation magazine. However, we realized that we can do more than just the printed word. Events like this allow us to include reallife experience in a practical way, expanding our reach from beyond just print. ” Shea Rubinstein, co-founder of JCON and executive vice president of JCC of Marine Park, had a pretty lofty set of goals for the night: “[We want] to empower individuals who’ve entered the real estate space by creating informative and relevant seminars, and [to give them opportunities for] meetings with the most prominent leaders in the industry and their peers.”

Rabbi Yehoshua Werde, co-founder of JCON and director of Crown Heights Young Entrepreneur agreed, adding: “My goal in this event and in all events that we do, is to empower the next generation by exposing them to a variety of industry professionals.” The event was split into three distinct sections — seminars, a keynote speech, and networking (with dinner, of course), and all of those objectives were accomplished beyond expectation. With the shape and feel of real estate changing in the wake of the NYC rent regulation law — which eliminated the ability for landlords to raise rent on NYC rent-controlled apartments, even if improvements are made on the unit — many attendees felt it was a particularly relevant time to band together with like-minded professionals and discuss the growing concern that NYC real estate is a declining market. David Greenfield’s seminar on NYC rent regulations addressed this issue, discussing the changing political landscape and the ramifications these changes will continue to have.