Jonathan Shainberg.
Jonathan Shainberg, 29
Vice president at Meridian Investment Sales
In 2019, Jonathan Shainberg had the biggest year in sales of his nearly decade-long career.
Among the deals Shainberg worked on was a 115-unit multifamily building in Long Island City, Queens, that sold for $47 million that November, as well as the $80 million sale of a three-building portfolio in Flushing — all while getting married last summer.
“It was sort of a combination of a lot of things,” Shainberg said about his productive year. “I think it was the maturity of me as an individual in investment sales, combined with being at Meridian for a certain amount of time, combined with heading into the [new] rent laws, combined with just the market in general.”
The coronavirus pandemic has further slowed multifamily sales after New York’s more tenant-friendly rent laws were passed, though Shainberg isn’t that worried. He closed the Long Island City deal after the rent laws went into effect, and he said he has some others set to close soon.
“The volume of deals has gone down, but I look at that as a positive thing,” he said. “That means, competition has gone down. That means, I can step up my game and find more deals.”
Sales and real estate are in Shainberg’s blood. His father runs a dental sales business, while his older brother worked as an investment sales broker at Marcus & Millichap decades ago. His uncle also did real estate in Canada. “I was definitely raised within a real estate family and world,” he said. “Growing up, it was always between finance and real estate. Then, I figure, why can’t I combine the both of them?”
Shainberg was born and grew up in Los Angeles, and went to Boston University with the plan to eventually move to New York to pursue real estate. He nabbed a job as an investment banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets’ real estate group, then joined Amit Doshi’s team at Besen & Associates. He followed Doshi to Meridian in 2018.
In his spare time, Shainberg likes to watch and play sports and play guitar. He also was one of the first people back in the Meridian office amid the pandemic — mainly because he chose to live a block away to cut down on his commute.
“Being in a job where there’s no base salary, you have to earn your own bread,” he said. “I want to spend every minute that I can to seize the opportunity.”
