LIVINGSTON, NJ, May 12, 2016 – It has been said timing is everything. Although Gebroe-Hammer Associates’ Stephen Tragash embarked on a new career path just before the Great Recession, he never questioned his decision. He immediately distinguished himself as one of the region’s leading urban and suburban multi-family investment brokerage specialists and has added a new milestone to his achievements – being named the firm’s 2015 Salesperson of the Year.
Named in memory of the firm’s late founders, Mel Gebroe and Morris Hammer, the annual peer-selected award recognizes one brokerage professional for exceptional, consistent sales performance.
“Stephen is respected by owners, investors, banking institutions and attorneys throughout the multi-family investment industry,” said Ken Uranowitz, president. “He subscribes to a ‘dig in and see the deal through from start to finish’ work ethic, which mirrors his ‘all-in’ approach to joining the investment brokerage profession. Stephen has been able to soak in information and remain agile – pre- and post-Great Recession – by applying both traits to each of his successes.”
Tragash has been instrumental in expanding the firm’s presence throughout Union County, Morris County and beyond during his nine years with Gebroe-Hammer. He also has closed some of the region’s most high-profile transactions in markets with a high concentration of post-World War II-era low-to-mid-rise properties.
Recent achievements include being a member of the brokerage team involved in the $12.17 million trade of a 119-unit garden-apartment community in Union County and the $11.2 million sale of 80 units in Morris County. Additional highlights also include two separate sales of a five- and three-story building along Washington Avenue in Belleville; the trade of 91 total units in the City of Elizabeth; and three separate sales in Chatham, N.J., totaling 408 units.
A former financial analyst and asset manager, Tragash represents a wide range of first-time and long-term clients in some of the New York MSA’s most prominent market and off-market transactions. In 2012, he became one of the newest members of Gebroe-Hammer’s executive management team, promoted from sales associate to vice president, followed by a promotion to senior vice president in late 2014.
“I had always considered a real estate career since high school, when I would read investment books and figure out how to structure commercial real estate transactions,” said Tragash, a graduate of Rutgers Business School. “I’m grateful that the executive management team at Gebroe-Hammer saw something in me that they thought would make a successful broker. They offered me the opportunity to learn from the best in the business through the firm’s training program, which has yielded a challenging, rewarding career.”