Elliot Horowitz is the founder and managing member of H Equities LLC, a real estate investment company based in Brooklyn, New York, providing senior loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity as well as GP and LP equity on land, multifamily, mixed-use properties and development projects. H Equities started investing in Brooklyn in 2011 and expanded to Manhattan, the Bronx, Yonkers, New Jersey, Atlanta and Miami.
During his career, Horowitz has closed and consulted on commercial real estate acquisitions and loans with an aggregate value of over $800 million with sophisticated real estate investors and partners, many of whom are close friends and family. With extensive experience sourcing debt and equity investment opportunities, Horowitz can conduct and oversee the financial analysis, due diligence and underwriting of potential principal investments.
The Baruch College graduate lives in Brooklyn with his family. In his spare time, he is active in a variety of charitable organizations.
How long have you been in the business?
12 years.
What made you decide to get into real estate?
As a former stock trader who didn’t carry many positions overnight, I found the idea of owning and lending on hard, illiquid assets very appealing. To me it generally represented less volatility and had numerous tangible benefits.
What pushes you to the next level?
Making sure my family is taken care of.
Who inspires you?
The same family, especially my wife, and with a very thankful nod today to our first responders, all hospital medical staff and our servicemen and women.
If you had to work in another city, where would it be?
Herzliya in Israel.
What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone starting in the business?
Learn from the bottom up. Learn the basics and build on it. You don’t know enough yet. You need a firm foundation (no pun intended) for an intelligent conversation. You need to know your deals inside and out.
How has the real estate industry changed since you began your career?
It was more yellow pad and pencil and common sense. Today, a lot of it is about 10-tab spreadsheets most people can’t understand and assumptions that may or may not be hit. Just because the spreadsheet says so doesn’t make it accurate.
How will COVID-19 affect financing and acquisitions in the short and medium term?
It’s clear many lenders have pulled back — both private and banks of all sizes. Less leverage is being offered, and a lot of the recent appetite for now just isn’t there. That probably won’t change tomorrow or for the next year or more for many lenders.
We are lending actively on many different asset classes, as there as has been a significant increase in loan requests due to the pullback. Our investors and partners are liquid, and we are looking to transact on debt and preferred equity investments. We are also looking for acquisition opportunities. Whatever you buy today needs better pricing than in the pre-COVID shutdown, and more equity, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The absolute irony is that if you can buy assets at deep discounts today based on real underwriting, leverage may not necessarily be a bad thing, either. Good luck!
