About Us

J. Philip Real Estate was founded — in my home — in 2005. While the firm had a good beginning, it came on the cusp of the housing bubble bursting.
18 months after our first closing, the sub-prime market began its collapse.
In the firm’s third full year, the Great Recession — and the ensuing housing crash —began. By 2009, we would routinely walk into closings only to be told that the transaction was cancelled because the lender had gone out of business that morning.

As a relatively new firm in competitive market, and with all my personal assets invested in home and business, the housing crash could easily have been our downfall, as many thousands of other business succumbed to the downturn.

With commissions disappearing, consumers running for cover, and lenders raising their standards to almost ridiculous levels to approve a loan, my own mortgage went into default. For nine long months in 2009 and into 2010, I fought tooth and nail to keep the company afloat, to keep my house via a loan modification, and to maintain stability for my four children. They were difficult times. Indeed, 2008-2012 was a blur in many ways.

I saw some agents getting successful selling foreclosures on behalf of banks; with the holidays approaching, I sold one, too. But after that sale, I faced the prospect of evicting hardworking people caught in the undertow of the crisis at Christmastime. It didn’t feel right.

So I chose a different path.

What kept the firm solvent in those days were short sales: negotiating a short payoff to lenders for less than what was owed when the home’s value dipped beneath the mortgage balance. Throughout the housing crash, J. Philip Real Estate sold hundreds of short sales on behalf of distressed homeowners who had done nothing wrong except lose their incomes in the recession. Every short sale client closed with a dignified exit, and every client was assisted in getting housing when they moved. Only two home sellers brought a dime to the closing; both were doctors.

Happily, my own mortgage was modified. The firm has since grown to three offices and almost 100 agents, and is has been the highest-selling Westchester/Putnam-based independent brokerage by transaction total since 2016. My experiences and hundreds of transactions over the years working with homeowners facing foreclosure have taught me a gigantic amount about what a homeowner goes through in distress, and what options are out there for them. Often, we put homeowners in touch with resources to keep their homes. They referred us more business.

My LinkedIn profile will tell you that I served on the Hudson Gateway MLS Board as Vice President for 4 years and President in 2014. It will tell you that I have been in the NY Times and on ABC World News, and that I appear on WOR AM-710 radio on a real estate talk show. I have made industry influencer lists and been recognized as a thought leader in the industry. I am an advocate for real estate agent safety. I served as the Tech Chair for the NY Association of Realtors in 2014. But what it cannot tell is how it feels to help a client avoid foreclosure, to have the slate wiped clean, and be given a fresh start.

In May of 2023 I made the decision to bring my team to Howard Hanna Rand Realty, part of the largest family-owned brokerage in the USA. At this point, the DNA of the J. Philip Real Estate Team is far different than that of a typical brokerage chasing mansions and estate listings. We excel at the less glamorous deals, with regular people who face hardship, who need a hand and a guiding advocate. At this point, we have collected so much knowledge and so many professional resources to help struggling homeowners that it would be a waste to not continue to do so, even with the housing crash behind us. As Ronald Reagan said, “it’s a recession when the guy next door loses his job. It’s a depression when you lose yours.”

If you are facing hardship, we can help.