Neil B. Garfinkel

Mr. Garfinkel is the Partner-in-Charge of AGMB’s Real Estate and Banking Practices.

Neil B. Garfinkel’s legal experience is diverse and his practice focuses on all aspects of commercial and residential real estate, title, banking and lending law. He further advises clients on trust and estates issues and elder law issues as those issues relate to real estate and lending transactions.

Neil B. Garfinkel proudly serves as Broker Counsel to the Real Estate Board of New York (“REBNY”), New York City’s leading real estate trade association. In addition to counseling REBNY on the vast array of laws and regulations that affect the real estate brokerage community, AGMB hosts the REBNY Legal Line, a daily legal hotline provided exclusively for residential members of REBNY.

Mr. Garfinkel serves as counsel to the Empire State Mortgage Bankers Association and he regularly counsels his mortgage banking and mortgage broker clients on all aspects of their businesses. His expertise in cooperative corporation law has enabled him to assist national lending institutions in creating cooperative loan programs in New York. Furthermore, Mr. Garfinkel has traveled extensively throughout the country to provide training programs to the employees of his banking clients.

Mr. Garfinkel has also counseled his clients on loan portfolio acquisitions and sales. He is well versed in the complex areas of federal and state licensing and lending laws and assists his clients in obtaining banking and broker licenses, as well as structuring affiliated business relationships under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Mr. Garfinkel serves as general counsel to a real estate investment firm, where he advises these companies on legal and business issues on a daily basis. This unique combination of knowledge and experience enables him to better serve his many clients and address their needs from a multi-faceted perspective.

Mr. Garfinkel resides in Great Neck, New York with his wife. He has two children.

Achievements
Phi Beta Kappa
Cornell International Law Journal, Symposium Editor
Little Neck Jewish Center, Past President and Young Leadership Award
UJA – Leadership Award

Membership and Affiliations
Real Estate Board of New York – Broker Counsel
Empire State Mortgage Bankers Association – Counsel
Long Island Commercial Network – Board of Directors

New York State Department of State – Certified Instructor of Real Estate Classes
Senior Real Estate Specialist

New York State Bar Association
National Association of Realtors
New York State Association of Realtors
Long Island Board of Realtors
National Association of Mortgage Brokers
New York Association of Mortgage Brokers (Diamond Member)
Mortgage Bankers Association of New York
Community Bankers Mortgage Forum
Cornell University Real Estate Council
Cornell Club of New York
International Shotokan Karate Federation (Blackbelt)

Media and Publications

Speaking Engagements:
Mr. Garfinkel enjoys teaching and speaking about a variety of real estate, title and lending topics. He is certified by the New York Department of State as an instructor of real estate courses, and frequently teaches at REBNY, real estate broker offices and various bar associations. For a list of his speaking engagements please click here.

Media:
He has appeared on various television shows, including the CBS Local News, CNBC, Bloomberg News and New York 1 News. He has appeared on nationally syndicated radio, has been published in the REBNY Reporter, the Realtor, is a contributing editor to a training manual for the real estate broker community, and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsday, Reuters, AP, Dow Jones, , , , as well as numerous other publications. Please click here to access these various publications.