The Businessman

Through the years, I have proven myself to be an accomplished entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in planning, starting, building and maintaining successful business ventures and an established track record as a capable and successful businessperson.

Some of the business ventures that I have participated in include:

BUSHWOOD LLC, Saline, Michigan. This company was formed to acquire, renovate and lease homes. The company primarily purchases dilapidated, bank-owned properties which are then completely renovated and leased to tenants. The company’s primary source of tenants comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s affordable housing programs. The company’s goals are to provide newly renovated, energy-efficient homes for rent to lower income residents, improve neighborhoods, transform rundown, return vacant properties to the municipal tax rolls, while at the same time providing a fair rate of return to its investors.

BALANCE REAL ESTATE LLC, Chicago, Illinois. This newly formed green-home developer recently completed its first eco-friendly project, which is located in Chicago, Illinois. The company’s goal is to provide quality residential homes that are built with sustainability, environmental compatibility and enhanced energy efficiency. The project incorporates a variety of green-home building techniques, including solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, green roofs, high efficiency windows, insulation and mechanical systems, energy star certified appliances, and recycled and rapidly-renewable building materials within the conventional luxury home design template.

LEAP Learning, LLC, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Although initial efforts to raise private capital did not meet our requirements, this organization continues to endeavor to explore developing specialized learning centers for children with special needs and diagnosed special learning disabilities. If successfully initiated, the company would seek to provide a structured, multi-sensory approach by combining innovative, specialized learning software programs, specially trained tutors and therapeutic physical and social activities to ensure a quality educational experience for each student.

SUSSEX & REILLY, L.L.C, Chicago, Illinois. In 1999, I co-founded this start-up real estate brokerage company. The company’s  approach, which in 2009 might not seem revolutionary, was at the time of inception considered innovative and rather rebellious. At the time my partners and I began our new company, real estate brokerage was being conducted in the same manner that it had for decades. Their research, conducted in cooperation with the Chicago Tribune, revealed that in general, consumers were disenchanted with the real estate brokerage community on several levels. At the top of the list were consumer’s perceptions that the industry was staid and insular, that commission rates were standardized, that the level of communication and professionalism was woefully inadequate and that the industry in general had yet to embrace many of the technological innovations that were being used in other industries. While most real estate companies were busy consolidating under national brands, Frank and his partners launched an independent brokerage company, Sussex & Reilly LLC, whose goal it was to offer a “Smarter Approach to Real Estate.”

The mission of the new company was to become an innovative leader in real estate by creating a powerful platform of consumer services which, among other things, (i) offered the talents of a new brand of sales professionals trained to work in teams and supplied with, what at the time was, the most advanced technological tools available, (ii) introduced and applied an array of technological innovations to the sale of real estate and empowered its clients with a number of inventive and interactive tools and (iii) rewarded its customers with a compelling value proposition, a full range of professional services, provided at a discounted commission rate. What began with the goal of providing a unique “high tech, high touch” alternative to the traditional real estate brokerage model quickly developed into one of the fastest growing real estate companies in the country. Eclipsing its first year sales projections of $ 50 million in the first six months of operations, the company had achieved over $ 400 million in sales by the end of its second year of operations. The company’s  innovative, technology-based approach and rapid growth attracted a number of suitors and we sold our business to a national real estate chain in 2002.