Jorge P Newbery
Encyclopedia
Jorge P. Newbery is a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

n-born entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 who is at the forefront of the campaign to rescue homeowners from the current housing crisis. As Director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

 of American Homeowner Preservation
American Homeowner Preservation
American Homeowner Preservation Inc. was established in October 2007 as non-profit organization focused on helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure stay in their homes. The California based group believed that prices on the West Coast still had a long way to drop, so efforts were focused in Ohio....

 LLC, a Cincinnati-based foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

 prevention firm, Newbery works to keep distressed homeowners in their homes. The business model consists of short selling
Short sale (real estate)
A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from selling the property will fall short of the balance of debts secured by liens against the property and the property owner cannot afford to repay the liens' full amounts, whereby the lien holders agree to release their lien on the real...

 homes to investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...

s that are going into foreclosure with a lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

 and repurchase option.

Newbery originally consulted on the non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 American Homeowner Preservation Inc., before transitioning it to the for-profit American Homeowner Preservation LLC. As a real estate developer, Newbery has a history of taking on high-profile housing projects in distress with some success. He is likely best known for presiding over the rebirth and subsequent demise of Woodland Meadows, a sprawling 1,100-unit project in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

. Newbery's insistent efforts to keep the project afloat gave rise to extraordinary court and media battles with city officials and creditors.

Newbery's father, Jorge Ernesto Newbery, emigrated from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 to the United States and worked as an architect and interior designer. He met Jennifer Anne Mundy-Castle in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. They married, and settled in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 in 1965, where they still live.

Newbery went from being the developer in smaller rental properties, starting with a four-plex in South Central Los Angeles. Newbery progressed to larger properties, including the 233-unit Pickwick Plaza in Kansas City. He continued working successfully with distressed properties, but found some opposition with the 1,100-unit Woodland Meadows in Columbus, Ohio.

2008 saw a resurgence in his success as a realtor and entrepreneur. Newbery completed his first for-profit AHP short sale in May 2009. Newbery currently has ownership interests in several rental properties and remains a prominent go-to figure in the distressed properties field.

Significance

Newbery is the Director of American Homeowner Preservation LLC, a US-based real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 company that has received media
Media (communication)
In communications, media are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data...

 attention in 2009 as an advocate for saving homeowners from losing their homes to foreclosure. Through Newbery's work as an entrepreneurial real estate strategist, with 17 years of buying and selling multimillion-dollar distressed properties, he has created the first program aimed at reversing the foreclosure crisis. The program is similar to what government officials are proposing to replace the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which media critics argue has little impact on the housing crisis
United States housing bubble
The United States housing bubble is an economic bubble affecting many parts of the United States housing market in over half of American states. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and may not yet have hit bottom as of 2011. On December 30, 2008 the...

.

Newbery is also the grandnephew of Jorge Alejandro Newbery
Jorge Newbery
Jorge "George" Newbery, born Jorge Alejandro Newbery , was an Argentine pilot of North American descent. His father, Ralph Newbery , emigrated from Long Island, to Argentina after the American Civil War...

 (1875–1914), one of the first Latin American aircraft pilots, who is also known for writing the first newspaper article on aviation in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. The family name is still widely recognized in Buenos Aires where the second largest airport, the Aeroparque Jorge Newbery
Aeroparque Jorge Newbery
-Accidents and incidents:*On 17 December 1969, an Austral Líneas Aéreas C-46 Commando, lost engine 1 due to fuel exhaustion shortly after take-off. The plane failed to gain height and made a crash landing in a small sport field...

, is named after his grand uncle.

Background and education

Newbery pursued an assortment of entrepreneurial ventures throughout his youth, from delivering newspapers and selling ice cream to starting a record company from his parents’ garage. Graduating high school at the age of 16, Newbery found that he had a flair for cycling. He raced in the elite amateur category 1 for several years on teams sponsored by ICN Pharmaceuticals
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company with activities spanning the drug discovery pipeline from target identification through clinical trials and commercialization. The focus of the company is on neurology, dermatology and infectious disease with several drugs in...

, Vita Crunch and others. Eventually, Newbery returned to California and started a career in real estate.

Newbery began attending Palisades High School in 1981, until the age of 16. In the years 1982 to 1984, Newbery began his own independent music label Upstart Records, in his parents’ garage. There, he recruited bands, produced records, coordinated marketing and distribution, and booked shows and tours. Upstart Records produced Southern California bands like Red Scare, Circle One, Shattered Faith
Shattered Faith (band)
Shattered Faith is a punk rock band from Southern California.Formed in 1978 by Kerry Martinez, currently guitarist for U.S. Bombs, and Spencer Barsch, now lead vocalist for Firecracker 500, the group featured songs with a political and biblical bent, although whether or not they could be classified...

, Stalag 13
Nardcore
Nardcore is a hardcore punk movement that came out of Southern California in the early 1980s, originating in Silver Strand Beach, Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Early bands in the Nardcore scene included Agression, Dr. Know, False Confession, Ill Repute, Habeas Corpus, RKL, Stalag 13 and Scared Straight...

, Hated Principles, and Killroy. From 1982 to 1984, he took part in the release of eight records by Southern California punk bands. He produced "Youth Manifesto" a cassette tape sold in 1982 that featured interviews with and music snippets of the following bands: Bad Religion, Black Flag, Saccharine Trust, R.F. 7, Red Rockers, and Youth Brigade. He worked as a tour manager in 1984 on Red Scare's nationwide tour. Newbery disbanded Upstart Records, after two of Upstart's lead singers met untimely deaths: Red Scare's singer Bobbie Brat died of stomach cancer and the Santa Monica Police shot and killed Circle One Singer John Macias.

Newbery cycled as an elite amateur from 1985 to 1989. His time in cycling included stints on teams sponsored by ICN Pharmaceuticals and Vita Crunch cereal. His accomplishments include 1987 Southern California Road Race Championship, 2nd Place; 1987 Pan Am Road Race Trials, 44th Place; 1987 Vulcan Tour green jersey holder; 1988 Olympic Road Race Trials, 41st Place; Spenco 500, 4th Place; 1988 member of Costa Rican National Team, Tour de Mexico.

Early success

Newbery began his real estate career in 1990 in the mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 industry. At age 24, Newbery was racing full time and making a small penance. Close Friend Cathy Hertz inspired him to make a career change through her own successes and assisted him in receiving a real estate license
Real estate license
Real estate licenses are those authorizations issued by a state administration that gives agents and/or brokers the legal ability to represent a home seller or buyer in the process of buying or selling real estate in the United States....

.

Without a college degree, he felt he had to work harder than his peers. He used the focus and determination that he learned through cycling to avoid distractions while working at Univest Home Loans. Within six months, he was the top-producing loan originator
Loan origination
Loan origination is the process by which a borrower applies for a new loan, and a lender processes that application. Origination generally includes all the steps from taking a loan application through disbursal of funds . Loan servicing generally covers everything after disbursing the funds until...

, even making more than his manager. Eventually, he became a loan officer
Loan officer
A loan officer is a person who serves as an intermediary between lending institutions and borrowers. They solicit loans, represent creditors to borrowers, and represent borrowers to creditors....

, branch manager, and then broke off to start Sunset Mortgage in 1992. From 1992 to 1995, Newbery and a partner grew Sunset Mortgage, which still thrives today.

In 1992, he purchased his first rental property, a four-plex in South-Central Los Angeles. Buoyed by the success of buying underperforming properties and improving operations to add value, Newbery progressively took on larger and more challenging buildings.

Newbery arranged financing for developers buying distressed Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 properties at large discount
Discounts and allowances
Discounts and allowances are reductions to a basic price of goods or services.They can occur anywhere in the distribution channel, modifying either the manufacturer's list price , the retail price , or the list price Discounts and allowances are reductions to a basic price of goods or services.They...

s. Newbery soon began purchasing the distressed properties himself, successfully turning around several high-profile distressed rental properties. By 1995, he sold ownership of Sunset Mortgage to his partner in order to focus solely on distressed properties.

In 1998, Newbery purchased the 298-unit Ford Hotel on Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

' Skid Row, at a large discount. The four prior owners were all incarcerated for slum violations in relation to the property. By the time he purchased 1,100-unit Woodland Meadows in 2002, he became a hands-on developer, actually living in the apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 at Woodland Meadows.

Resurgence

In 2007, Newbery was called on by Founder Emily Gomez to consult on the formation of the non-profit American Homeowner Preservation Inc. (AHP) to help homeowners stay in their homes who were in risk of foreclosure.

Summit County Port Authority (SCPA) voted unanimously to induce up to 12.5 million in bonds
Government bond
A government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country...

 to fund AHP in September 2008, after Newbery used his securities experience to identify buyers for the tax exempt bonds. AHP then proceeded to market the program in the greater Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...

 region and, by year-end, close to 300 families had signed purchase contracts to sell their homes to AHP.

However, SCPA then became anxious. Among other concerns, they were concerned about Newbery's affiliated company BTC Financial. BTC's strategy includes creating leverage to allow lenders to approve significant discounts on debt. Without generating big discounts from lenders, AHP's model didn't work. In the end, the SCPA rescinded AHP's bond resolution. The non-profit AHP Inc. has since been taken over by the for-profit American Homeowner Preservation LLC, with Newbery taking the lead as Director.

American Homeowner Preservation LLC administers a program which benefits both private sector investors as well as AHP families. The restructured AHP program short sells distressed homes to investors. However, the investor must agree to a five-year lease and repurchase option with the current homeowner.

Real estate licensing & properties

Newbery has been licensed in California as a salesperson since 1990, and a broker since 1992. In 2006, he received his broker license in Louisiana; and in 2008, he received his salesperson license in Ohio. Recently, he was licensed in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

Properties

Ohio
  • Woodland Meadows, 1,100-units in Columbus.
  • Country Woods, 350-units in Akron.
  • Park Lane Manor, 300-units in Akron.


California
  • Ford Hotel, 298-units in Los Angeles. The drug- and prostitution
    Prostitution
    Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

    - infested hotel had been the target of the City of Los Angeles Slum Housing Task Force for over five years, with three prior owners jailed over conditions at the property. The Grant Deed for the purchase was signed by the seller from jail, and his team interfaced extensively with government and agencies and local service providers to renovate the property and turn this property into a fully occupied asset to the community with a waiting list of carefully screened tenants.


Newbery collaborated with the non-profit Shelter First, who provided social services to the tenants and access to job training and placement, daycare, parenting classes, etc. For the tenants, these services became amenities and a reason they valued their apartment; allowing for tenant retention, which increased collection and occupancy.

Indiana

Oklahoma
  • Meridian Village, 247-units in Oklahoma City.


Missouri
  • Pickwick Plaza, 233-units in Kansas City
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

    . The building had been a nuisance to downtown Kansas City for over ten years, blight on an otherwise stable neighborhood. Poor property maintenance, weak tenant screening, and hands-off management by absentee owners contributed to the situation.


The horrors of the building included: low collections, high vacancy, four murders in the building over an 8-month period, and a fire that killed four other tenants. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...

 started foreclosure on the property and, due to the severity of the problems, installed a hot-line in their Dallas office to field the multitude of tenant complaints during the receivership term. Newbery's team acquired the property at the HUD foreclosure auction and the HUD Dallas office later complimented them on the fact that the overwhelming volume of complaint calls decreased almost immediately after the takeover.

Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

  • Pear Orchard Plaza, 150-units in Beaumont.

Woodland Meadows

Woodland Meadows was destroyed by an ice storm
Ice storm
An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or in some parts of the United States as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on exposed surfaces...

 in late 2004, which tested Newbery's resolve in a high-profile battle with insurers, the city of Columbus, creditors and contractors. Because there was a financial stranglehold with all parties involved and the loss of federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 rent subsidies, Newbery was unable to persuade investors to continue investment in the project.

In 2002, Newbery led the $12,500,000 acquisition
Total cost of acquisition
The Total Cost of Acquisition is a managerial accounting concept that includes all the costs associated with buying goods, services, or assets. Generally, it is the net price plus other costs needed to purchase the item and get it to the point of use...

 of the 1,100-unit Woodland Meadows Apartments in Columbus, Ohio which later earned him a commendation letter from the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....

: "Thanks to you, Woodland Meadows is a changed community. The renovation
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

 efforts represent a community where jobs are being created, families have safe, decent and affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...

 and lives are better…winning efforts such as yours make…the State of Ohio one of the best places to live, work and raise a family."

Newbery collaborated with the same group of investors from two past projects, Ford Hotel and Pickwick Plaza Apartments acquisition, to spear-headed the $2.6 million, 1,200-unit Huntington Meadows Apartments acquisition in Cincinnati, Ohio. Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

 boasted about selling Huntington Meadows Apartment to Hastings Bankshares of Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

 in 1972 in his 1987 memoir, The Art of the Deal. Unfortunately, the city rejected the offer, believing that there could be better use for the property other than affordable housing.

Keystone Towers

Keystone Towers used to be a building for up and coming trendsetters like athletes. "The towers, which sit on the main highway between Indianapolis and Fishers, have deteriorated to the point of blight. They are infested with rats, human feces. Sometimes the homeless take up residence there as well. Media officials have blamed this blight on Newbery, who acquired the property in 2003. At the time of his acquisition, the property stood fully vacant. While trying to remedy the building's problems with a slow taper of residents and financial infusion, Newbery fell into other difficulties and moved to sell the property. In 2006, the property was sold to Southeastern Partners, who aimed to continue the improvements to the building. Southeastern Partners failed in this mission and health and building standards were not met. The Partners were also in violation for receiving Section 8 subsidies when the building was not up to code.

Officials of Marion County and other media source 2 believe that Newbery had an interested stake in the Southeastern Partners who acquired the property.

Newbery, who now lives in Dayton, said he hasn't owned Keystone since 2006. He said only a handful of tenants received vouchers for subsidized housing.
In an e-mail, Newbery said that nothing in the police document proves he committed fraud. He said there might have been some months when he didn't make mortgage payments while receiving federally subsidized rents. And the only maintenance issue he said he had was in 2006, when he was cited for garbage behind the building

"According to the police document, Newbery and his Keystone Towers LLC received $16,430 in improper payments. Keystone Apartment Holdings LLC of Sherman Oaks, California, received $39,057 in improper payments, police said.

Newbery said he maintained the apartments when he owned them. The police document states he bought Keystone Towers in 2003. The complex was sold at a sheriff's sale in 2006.

He said he has no connection to Keystone Apartment Holdings.
"We did nothing wrong", Newbery said."

Other ventures

During Newbery's cycling career, he successfully finished 44th place at Pan American Games Trials in 1987
Cycling at the 1987 Pan American Games
This page shows the results of the cycling competition at the 1987 Pan American Games, held from August 7 to August 23, 1987 in Indianapolis, United States. There were a total number of seven men's and three women's events. For the first time women competed in cycling at the Pan American Games...

 and 41st place in 1988's Olympic Trials
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

. His greatest accomplishment in cycling was winning 4th place in 1987's Spenco 500—a non-stop 500-mile bicycle race in Waco, Texas televised on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

.

In 1987, Newbery was intent on being picked for the USA National team in the Tour of Mexico—a 3-week stage race: Teams from all over the world competed and there were large crowds of spectators
Spectators
Spectators is the fourth full album of the German synthpop duo Wolfsheim. As with all of their commercially available albums, this album is bilingual, although most tracks are in English...

 lining the roads as the race winds through each city. Newbery was not picked for the USA team and was momentarily dejected. However, he then decided that one way or another he was going be admitted into the race.

Newbery flew to Mexico City with a reporter from Winning magazine. At the sign-in, he asked all of the teams if they needed a rider, hoping that one of the Mexican trade teams would pick him up. With less than half an hour to go, all the teams had signed in, but then someone ran in and said that one of the Costa Rican riders had got hit by a car. Thus, he raced the Tour of Mexico for the Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

n National team. With three days remaining in the race, he was in 22nd place and well ahead of all of the USA riders. Unfortunately, he got food poisoning and was too ill to finish.

Family

Newbery has four siblings: Alastair, Charles, Charlene, and Anne. Mother Jennifer Anne Mundy-Castle was an actress born in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England. She toured with the Dublin Players in until she fell ill in St. Louis. While recovering, she met her future husband Jorge Ernesto Newbery. Great great uncle Jorge Alejandro Newbery was a pioneering aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 and sports hero in Argentina.

Hobbies

An avid runner, Newbery regularly competes in distance races
Association of International Marathons and Distance Races
The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, also known as AIMS, is an association of long-distance running races. Originally founded in 1982 at a meeting in London of marathon race directors, its membership was extended in 1986 to include all road races...

 and has run over 40 marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 and ultra-marathons since 1999. Recent race results as of late 2009 include:

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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