Having the right guide when navigating the NYC property tax landscape can be the difference between success and failure.
Since 2008, MGNY has leveraged its expertise and innovative systems to keep its clients in compliance and save them money via appeals, abatements, and exemptions. The family-owned firm specializes in both comprehensive property tax management and full-service affordable housing marketing services. The Real Deal spoke with Founder and President Michael Geylik, his brother and CEO Yuri Geylik, Property Tax Director Dmitriy Irinev, and Director of Special Projects for Affordable Housing Neil Dallhoff about MGNY’s origins, the services it provides, and how its close-knit office culture contributes to its success.
Learning the Industry from the Inside
MGNY founder Michael Geylik immigrated to New York City from the former Soviet Union in 2004 with his family, including his brother and MGNY CEO Yuri Geylik. While still in college, the brothers were hired by Jack Jaffa & Associates as expeditors working on violations and ECB hearings.
“We learned everything there was to know about violations and property taxes,” says Michael, “and we were promoted very quickly.” Before long, Michael had become an expert in commercial tax abatement and was heading up a unit overseeing the Industrial Commercial Incentive Program (ICIP).
While in this role, Michael was approached by a client who wanted help with a property tax appeal, a service that Jack Jaffa & Associates did not provide. Michael realized that he could branch out on his own and handle not only these property tax appeals but every aspect of property tax management under a single umbrella.
Working from Home
“So I researched for a year,” recalls Michael, “and found a software team that would help me to organize the client database and generate certain types of analysis that are required.” Once their custom software was in place, MGNY was ready to enter the property tax consulting and appeals game.
Michael launched the firm with his brother Yuri in 2008, and for the first six months they operated out of their family apartment in Gravesend, which Yuri describes as “old middle-income housing developed by Fred Trump.”
The brothers worked seven days a week in their shared bedroom cold-calling and doing direct mail marketing. Slowly but surely they signed on more and more clients, particularly among local Russian-speaking developers. “We were doing the appeals,” says Yuri, “and we worked with smaller developers and owners in the Russian-speaking community in Brooklyn to explain to them that they can get long-term tax benefits.”
The brothers soon outgrew their bedroom workspace. “Clients would call us to drop off signed paperwork,” remembers Yuri, “and I would tell them, ‘Meet me on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Avenue Z.’ After a few times, one client asked, ‘Why are we always meeting on the corner? It feels like a drug deal.’ So we decided it was time to get an office.”
The MGNY Advantage
MGNY saves its clients money by leveraging their wealth of experience and custom software to maximize every possible benefit. “We’ve been doing property taxes for a living since we were teenagers,” says Michael. “When a call comes in about a certain building, I can look at our software which pulls data from the Department of Finance and the Building Department and identify the most advantageous tax strategy very quickly.”
These services can range from applying for a tax exemption or abatement to reviewing the income and expense data from a previous tax period that was not properly submitted to filing appeals. Having all of these various services done by a single entity ensures efficiency and accuracy, saving clients substantial amounts of money in taxes paid, penalties levied, and accounting fees.
“It’s cumulative,” explains Yuri. “With property taxes, a lot of things are interconnected. For example, it’s common to have in-house accounting handle something like annual reporting and an outside service provider work on appeals, and then when the numbers don’t match it causes a lot of problems down the road.” MGNY’s integrated approach prevents these kinds of errors from occurring in the first place, as well as fixing those that have already taken place.
Branching Out Into Affordable Housing Marketing
MGNY’s largest expansion out of the property tax management realm has been into NYC’s affordable housing market. “We started doing affordable housing work in 2016 when the old 421a housing rules changed,” says Michael. The new 421-a regulations required that to qualify for the lucrative tax exemption, developers had to meet a set of criteria regarding affordable units, including leasing them via lottery by an approved marketing agent.
“So we acted very quickly,” recalls Yuri. “We hired one of the best firms in the US to train our team in low income housing tax credits and fair housing law, we got all of our certifications within a couple of months, and we became an approved marketing agent.”
“We are a full-service consultant for our owner clients,” explains Neil Dallhoff, MGNY’s Director of Special Projects for Affordable Housing. “They depend on us to manage the affordable component of their development from start to finish, and we keep their team fully informed throughout the process.”
Dallhoff was initially brought on by MGNY to oversee the affordable housing program at 5PointzLIC in Long Island City. He explains that MGNY’s affordable housing system leverages the same software architecture as the firm’s other services to streamline the complex process, which involves reaching out to thousands of applicants and then keeping track of the documents those applicants submit.
Once the initial leasing is complete, MGNY also helps developers re-rent and monitor reporting on an ongoing basis, ensuring that their clients remain in compliance.
“Communications are key in marketing a successful affordable housing project, and every client is unique,” says Dallhoff. “Success requires a robust CRM that can accommodate subtle changes, and our ability to personalize that software came from the tax appeal side.”
Their early mover advantage allowed MGNY to sign up with some of the biggest names in the industry. The firm has managed affordable housing lotteries at Brookfield’s Lincoln at Bankside, Astoria West by Cape Advisors, and is currently managing the lottery at JDS Development Group’s Brooklyn Tower, which is the tallest building in the borough.
A Familial Office Culture
Since they opened their office, Michael and Yuri have built a team of experts in NYC tax policy and affordable housing marketing as well as an international team of software developers, all while retaining the familial atmosphere they cultivated during their days operating out of their bedroom.
“The culture here is that any ideas are welcome. We always try to have a meaningful back and forth,” says Dmitriy Irinev, who came to MGNY with a decade of experience doing property assessment and compliance oversight for the City of New York and is now the firm’s Property Tax Director. “We continue to innovate, and we encourage every single employee to continue growing, whether it’s professionally or personally.”
MGNY maintains a budget for employees to take classes, whether it be “a leadership class or a yoga class,” says Irinev. “The company encourages and pays for it.”
“Whenever there is any kind of issue, people know that they can always come to my office,” says Michael. “We have an open-minded approach to managing people.”
Navigate the NYC real estate landscape with confidence by partnering with MGNY. Renowned for their expertise in affordable housing and property tax management, MGNY’s experts guide NYC owners and developers toward success.
Contact MGNY today and elevate your real estate strategy to new heights – You can also reach the team directly at 212-343-1111