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Yaakov Zar

Founder @ Lev

Yaakov Zar is a prominent entrepreneur and the founder of Lev, a commercial real estate transaction platform based in New York City. Established in September 2019, Lev aims to assist commercial real estate owners in securing optimal financing solutions for their properties.12 Under his leadership, Lev has grown to employ approximately 78 people and reported revenues of around $10.9 million.2

Professional Background

  • Founder at Lev (September 2019 - Present)
    • Focuses on creating a powerful online marketplace for commercial real estate transactions.
  • Co-Founder of Dispatch (January 2013 - Present)
    • Previously served as Chief of Strategy until November 2019, where he contributed to developing software for service professionals.1
  • Angel Investor at 770vc (January 2017 - Present)
    • Engages in venture capital investments, supporting various startups.1
  • Co-Founder and CEO of SocialRent, LLC (October 2011 - August 2012)
    • Developed technology aimed at improving the apartment rental process for students and young professionals.1

Education

Yaakov holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from Boston University, where he studied from 2009 to 2012.1

Personal Contributions

Zar has also been involved with the Chabad House Bowery as a Shliach from March 2017 to November 2022, supporting community growth initiatives.1 His diverse language skills include proficiency in Persian and Spanish, along with working knowledge of Turkish and Hebrew.1

Recognition

In June 2015, he was honored as a Rising Star by Founders Forum, acknowledging his contributions and potential within the entrepreneurial landscape.1

For more information about his professional journey, you can view his LinkedIn profile under the username yjzar.

Highlights

Aug 26 · linkedin

There’s something interesting I’ve been thinking about in CREF that I thought was worth sharing…

It seems like the number and size of independent CRE finance brokers/advisors is rapidly diminishing, and most offerings moving forward will be from organizations that are both lenders and brokers. These groups need additional tools to better compete in this evolving industry.

This seems to be caused by some of the recent fraud and fraud-adjacent activities in the market for the past several years (decade?), as well as attempts to vertically-integrate/make more money from transactions that sponsors do.

It has become (and is further becoming) very difficult for a third-party to originate an agency loan, which has led to more intermediaries further integrating into agency lending businesses. We’ve seen examples of this in the HFF/JLL deal several years ago, the Greystone/Cushman deal last year, and most recently, we’ve seen many top agency brokers move to work directly at agency lenders.

One effect of this on sponsors is that you have less options of truly independent third-party originators who are working across the market. It’s more important than ever to invest in more direct relationships with lenders (and, of course, Lev is ready and willing to support that).

One effect of this on brokers is that you need to somehow further differentiate your offerings to compete with groups who could offer full-service, direct lending alongside advisory and broker work (as groups like Walker & Dunlop and Berkadia have been doing for years).

For lenders, at least agency (and maybe some private) lenders, in order to keep your customers engaged with you, you might need to expand your product offerings beyond just originating for your own book, and also broker/advise on deals with third-party lenders.

I think we’ll see a lot more M&A activity (both firm-wide and individual, high-producing brokers changing shops) in the coming months.

This change is a significant factor in the rebound our industry will experience as interest rates go down and activity picks up. I think the shape of the CREF industry this cycle will be significantly different than it was pre-COVID and during ZIRP.

I am an optimist and believe that the business model innovation, along with technology innovation in this competitive market, will lead to exciting and positive outcomes for sponsors, brokers, lenders and every stakeholder in our industry.

I am excited to be part of supporting all of these stakeholders through our market-leading innovation at Lev for decades to come.

Jun 16 · linkedin

Our team is shipping impactful features for our customers too quickly for me to only post our professional videos, so here is an internal video of our new "track your pipeline via email" feature.

Our customers can just forward an email they got from their investment sales broker (or anyone) to [email protected] and we'll create the deal in their pipeline with a summary and a bunch of other details. They can then go to market for financing for that property in like 3 minutes.

Related Questions

What inspired Yaakov Zar to start Lev?
How did Yaakov Zar's experience at Dispatch influence his work at Lev?
What are some of the key achievements of Yaakov Zar at Lev?
How does Lev differentiate itself from other commercial real estate financing platforms?
What challenges has Yaakov Zar faced in his entrepreneurial journey?
Yaakov Zar
Yaakov Zar, photo 1
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Location

New York, New York, United States