Why Conservative Leverage Beats Timing the Market

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Jeff Gural is one of the most influential yet low profile figures in New York City real estate, with a career spanning construction, brokerage, long term ownership, and large scale development. In this episode, he shares his full story, from his early days in construction to building Newmark, forming GFP Real Estate, owning iconic NYC assets, and navigating decades of market cycles, regulatory shifts, and political complexity.

This conversation covers the realities of surviving real estate downturns, lessons learned from partnerships under pressure, tax law changes that reshaped the industry, the evolution of the NYC office market, and his unexpected rise as a casino and racino owner. Jeff explains how conservative leverage, asset quality, and patience allowed him to perform well in difficult markets and why long term thinking continues to matter more than ever for investors, operators, and developers today.


Connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Brian Whelan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-whelan-43155850/
• Mitchel Flaherty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchel-flaherty-7b4b1064/