David Betesh
Northern New Jersey Market Specialist
Gebroe-Hammer Associates
Years with Firm: 2
Years in Field: 2
Organizations: NJAA, NJPOA, NMHA, NAA & NPOA
For David Betesh, the winding road that led to a multifamily investment brokerage career is an extremely unique and unconventional one.
After graduating from NYU with a degree in film and TV production, along with a minor in business of entertainment, media and technology, he launched his professional career with one of the world’s leading talent agencies – Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Thereafter, he went on to serve as the second highest-ranking sales executive at a new studio and distribution company affiliated with WarnerMedia.
Building on his success in these two positions, Betesh was then part of a partnership that formed a new film distribution startup. While in this role, he spearheaded the operational setup of Utopia, which achieved rapid and tremendous success as one of the leading indie film distributors. Much like the theatrical and home-video businesses, this segment of the entertainment field was disrupted by streamers producing their own films and TV and, as a result, posed limited potential – and prompted Betesh to seek his next great adventure.
It was at this juncture Betesh began casting a wider net beyond entertainment and film – and joined Gebroe-Hammer Associates. As the newest member of the firm’s industry unique training and mentorship program, he was drawn to the inherent potential commercial real estate presented.
“During my search for a new career that offered a challenging path to personal and professional achievement, I came to the realization that people always needed a place to live and so I landed in multifamily investment sales,” he said, noting he had a window into the world of commercial real estate thanks to his brother, a leading mortgage broker at Meridian Capital.
According to Betesh, the multifamily investment brokerage profession allows him to meld all of the lessons learned in his earlier endeavors as well as new ones.
“My days at CAA, Gunpowder & Sky and Utopia shaped the foundation for my career that continues to serve me extremely well: principles for elite client service, uncompromising team collaboration and the handling of tasks with precision and discretion,” he explained. “I also was quite familiar with how to navigate financial models, pro-forma projections and investor waterfalls because – contrary to what one might think – acquiring and selling film rights is not dissimilar to getting an exclusive to sell an apartment building and exceeding the owner’s expectations.”
Since joining the ranks of Gebroe-Hammer in 2022, Betesh has entrenched himself in the Northern New Jersey submarkets. During this time, he has gained invaluable frontline knowledge regarding property inventory, key owners and trend projections. Additionally, he has served as a member of the firm’s brokerage team on several prominent transactions, including the $19.8M sale of Grand Lee Apartments, an 80-unit garden-style property in the borough of Leonia.
While Betesh now reserves leisure time for the movies – along with cooking and his basset hound Anguish – he embraces the challenge of being a multifamily-focused investment broker. “I enjoy meeting and engaging with new people, hearing about and helping to shape their ‘stories,’” he said.
Comments