Fireball

DAVID M. KAUFMAN, CCIM (Return to Home Page...)

"Fireball" is how The Auctioneer Magazine described David Kaufman, after he conducted a real estate auction workshop for an auctioneers' convention held in Illinois. A very accurate description of an individual who has become as much a phenomenon as the highly popular industry niche which he helped popularize...the real estate auction.

Kaufman, who was born on the south side of Chicago, now resides in Winnetka, Illinois. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, and has taught real estate classes at the MBA level. He began his real estate brokerage and auctioneering career in over 20 years ago. By blending his knowledge of real estate; ease with the podium, microphone, gavel and audience; and acute attention to executing detailed marketing plans using the most sophisticated materials, he has become one of the most prolific and visible auctioneers on the national scene.

A quote from the February 21, 1986 issue of REAL ESTATE FINANCE TODAY is indicative..."But Freddie Mac is about to steal a page from Fannie Mae's book by holding an REO auction in Houston on March 1-2 using the same colorful auctioneer David M. Kaufman, that Fannie Mae has made a familiar figure in the Houston marketplace."

His auctions have also sparked articles about the growth of this industry in NEWSWEEK (Nov. 1990), MONEY MAGAZINE, USA TODAY (July 15, 1987), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, and THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, WASHINGTON POST, to mention a few.

Kaufman was the first to conduct auctions for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the early '80s. In November of 1990, he conducted the first auction of real estate ever held by The Resolution Trust Corporation in this country. The sale took place in Phoenix, Arizona and since that time the RTC has invited Mr. Kaufman back to perform sales for them in the Washington, D.C. area, New Jersey, Alabama, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and California. Kaufman is an innovator as demonstrated by his use of the auction method of marketing to sublet over 250,000 square feet of office space scattered throughout the Denver market in 1986 for BCED (the development arm of Bell of Canada pension fund).

Kaufman does a great deal of public speaking and seminars. He has spoken at four national conventions for the National Association of Realtors, six state real estate association conventions, the Illinois CPA Society Continuing Education Program (which evaluated him as the best speaker of the program), and the Oversight Board of the Office of Thrift Supervision on various topics of commercial real estate and marketing, including auctions. A speech to the local MAI appraisal chapter dealt with the interesting topic of evaluation and analytical comparison of auction sales as comparables for properties sold through ordinary negotiated sales.

Liking people, and enjoying the speaker's rostrum, when he saw opportunities to auction property he naturally pursued them. Having been involved in auctions now for over 20 years, he has found that his auctions have consistently met or exceeded his clients' targets, regardless of market conditions, and his firm has closed in excess of 90% of their contracts on average, which is one of the highest closing rates in the country.

Kaufman has taught courses in the MBA program at the Keller Business Institute on real estate decision-making for which he developed a sophisticated, but simple to use, computer spreadsheet that analyses real estate investments. For five years, he taught a course on Income Property Brokerage at the YMCA Community College. He likes to reflect that in his twenties, he also taught chemistry, physics, math and music on the elementary and high school levels in the Chicago Public School System.

In the late 70's Kaufman appeared on MONEY TALK (WCIU-TV, channel 26), for an eight-part real estate investment course with the show's host, Terry Savage. Mr. Kaufman has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN and Biznet Cable News as well as TV interviews and appearances on TV and radio programs from coast to coast including several on National Public Radio (NPR).

He has authored numerous articles on various areas of the real estate industry, including a chapter on "OFFICE BUILDINGS AS INVESTMENTS" for the Dow Jones Irwin Real Estate Handbook. Kaufman also served as the editorial committee chair for the COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE JOURNAL for the REALTORS' NATIONAL MARKETING INSTITUTE, for which he was a councilor of their COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT COUNCIL.

Kaufman also was a member of NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS-REAL ESTATE TODAY MAGAZINE committee and MAYOR DALEY'S (Richard J.) ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON BUILDING CODE AMENDMENTS for the City of Chicago.

Kaufman has been qualified as an expert witness by the Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois and various bankruptcy courts in the country. For Earl Neal & Associates, he has given expert testimony in condemnation matters.

Kaufman is a principal of DK REALTY PARTNERS. The members of his firm have made headlines selling commercial, investment, vacant and residential properties through all three methods of marketing. These services have been provided for private investors, developers, secondary mortgage market makers, banks, savings institutions and government agencies across the United States.

On a community level, he is a member of The Union League Club of Chicago, and is a director of The Civic & Arts Foundation of Chicago. He also conducts charity auctions for worthy causes; and has served on the board of directors of The Cove School for the Learning Disabled (Winnetka, IL.) and The Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL.).

Mr. Kaufman, a member of Lambda Alpha (an honorary land economics society) holds real estate and auctioneering licenses in many different states and is a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member). His hobbies include sailing (Sheridan Shores Yacht Club), guitar singer-songwriter (country, folk, and blues), photography and computer sciences. Mr. Kaufman has traveled to Egypt, Ireland, England, Amsterdam, Canada, The British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, The USVI, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Barthelemy, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Curacao, Puerto Rico, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, Israel, Venezuela, France, Sweden and Mexico, as well as most of the 50 United States of America.