Creating Success

It may be hard to imagine a mortgage brokerage firm that exudes a combination of warmth and openness, but Winter & Company does just that. Art books cover a coffee table in the reception area and in founder and President Gregg Winter's office, the lights are soft and are covered with paintings and vintage posters. It makes sense really. An artist at heart, Winter was a music producer before he changed career tracks and continues to play music as well as paint whenever he gets the chance.

Not surprisingly, the company attracts its share of clients involved in creative fields: "We arranged acquisition and construction financing for a world renowned photographer who recently bought a huge studio space in Chelsea. We definitely get along with the art community," comments Winter.

Still, while Winter loves the arts, he has good, solid business roots. "My father owned a real estate investment company, W&W Associates, Inc., and when you grow up with someone who has such enthusiasm and expertise, it becomes automatically familiar," which means that Winter also gets along very well with major owners and developers. He comments, "we don't waste time, and we get the job done in a style with which our clients are comfortable."

The end result is a company well known for its ability to handle a wide variety of commercial mortgages for property types including multi-family apartment buildings, co-ops, shopping centers, mixed- use, office, retail, industrial, specialty and net-leased properties.

"We have customers ranging from the very sophisticated developer with a $100 million net worth, plus a portfolio of 20 properties, including apartment buildings, hotels and other retail properties, to the guy who is doing his first development," he notes. For the neophyte, according to Winter, the company will provide advisory services and happily guide the individual through the entire process. "A lot of new developers out there think they have reached the stage where they need a mortgage broker. Often, what they initially need is an advisor to help them complete the pre-development preparation and the team-building phase. Only then will the project be ready for us to bring to the market place. We are always very careful to avoid wasting our lenders' time with projects that don't yet have all the ingredients in place for success. Few things are more important to us than maintaining the highest level of credibility with our lenders."

In addition to arranging institutional mortgages, Winter & Company also functions as a direct lender. "We've been doing that since the beginning - making bridge loans for properties being repositioned or requiring a fast closing that would be difficult to place with a bank."

In recent years, according to Winter, the direct lending portion of the business has grown significantly, and he credits his father for much of the success the company has experienced in that department. "He was a direct lender, and he gave me a sense of how to judge the potential of a project." Winter's private investors have enjoyed consistent returns in the 12 to 15 percent range over the years without a single problem loan.

In a move that reflects the growing success of the company, Winter brought in Henry Berliss as senior vice president. Active in real estate finance and development since 1972, he arranges debt and equity for the company on a nationwide basis. In addition to numerous New York transactions, his Recent Transactions include over $27 million in three loans in Colorado, a $13.25 million loan in Ohio and $3.5 million in loans and sales in Florida. Says Winter of his new associate, "Henry brings a lot of experience and knowledge, and he also brings finesse."

Commenting on the cooling economy's effect on business, Winter says, "In these difficult times, we consider ourselves fortunate to be fabulously busy. A couple of deals have fallen apart since 9/11, but otherwise we've had plenty of new business in the pipeline, and of course, the lowest interest rates in 40 years are certainly a stimulus."

A more specific industry trend that is affecting the way in which his company does business is consolidation. "There are fewer, small idiosyncratic lenders who may have had one great niche product. We are, therefore, compelled to look further afield to find other lenders that are capable of doing something special for our clients."

Born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Winter would occasionally help his father with his business. However, from an early age he set his sights on a career in music. After graduating from Long Island University (magna cum laude), he opened a recording studio in Long Island and produced music for labels including CBS, Polygram and RCA. By the late eighties, however, Winter found himself disenchanted with the "big business" attitudes of the labels with which he dealt on a daily basis. "The music business I had signed up for," he comments, "no longer existed by the late eighties."

At the same time he began to question his future in music, his father became ill, and as Winter put more time into assisting him, he discovered that real estate was much more interesting than he'd remembered. In the midst of contemplating a job offer from a major recording label that would entail a move to Los Angeles, his father passed away, and he made the decision to stay in New York and start his own business.

Twelve years later, Winter & Company includes a staff of five. It's smallish, and Winter plans to keep it that way. "We could add two or three more brokers and a couple more support people, but I'd like to stay boutique-sized and grow by continuing to increase our average transaction size, rather than by tripling our volume."

Certainly, it's a working formula. According to Winter, "ninety-nine percent of our business comes through referrals. We don't advertise much, and when we do, it's just to remind people that we're around. Between my 13 years in the business and Henry's 30, we know a wide network of people." Smaller also means more flexibility, which means on Fridays Winter can work from his office in Sag Harbor, where he has developed a fair amount of business over the past six years.

Ever the artist, Winter admits, "I love art. If I weren't doing this, I would just collect." Until that day, however, he is quite content to be in charge of one of his most successful creations, Winter & Company. He concludes with a smile, "As stressful as it is to run your own business, it's more stressful to work for someone else."

Gregg Winter, President

Feature Writer - Lois Sakany

© 2008. Gregg Winter. All Rights Reserved.
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