Only 15 years after 36-year-old Israeli Ilan Bracha arrived in New York, the Bat Yam native has staked his claim as the city's leading realtor. The Bat Yam native was chosen this week to open and direct the New York branch of real-estate colossus Keller Williams, after topping the rankings of New York realtors for years. Despite the economic recession in the U.S., Bracha says that the luxury apartment market in Manhattan is actually growing. We have set ourselves the goal of becoming the biggest real estate agency in New York, he said on Wednesday. We serve well-to-do clients from all over the world, including Israelis, who are taking advantage of the recent price drops in Manhattan and low dollar exchange rate to purchase property in the city, said Bracha. A special feature on Bracha in The New York Observer reported that he got his start in New York as a mover. After serving as a commander in the IDF, Bracha decided to move to New York where he started a house-moving business. During one job at a commercial brokerage house, the firm's owner told Bracha he had such a magnetic personality he should go into real estate. I took the moving van back and immediately went out and got my license, he told The Observer in the feature. After becoming the youngest managing director in the history of Prudential Douglas Elliman (a real-estate agency with over 1,900 offices in the U.S. and Canada), Bracha decided to build his own luxury real-estate team, The Bracha Group. According to Brachas business blog, his current exclusive listings total $300 million. He was listed as one of the Top Ten Brokers in Manhattan in Real Deal Magazine while The Wall Street Journal named The Bracha Group as one of the top real estate teams in the country by sales volume.
