Glenn La Mattina
Tell us about National Realty Investment Advisors.
NRIA was founded in 2006 and is located in Secaucus, New Jersey. It’s one of the nation’s leading specialists in middle-market institutional real estate investment management, focusing on luxury townhome, condominium, and multifamily acquisition and development. It’s a vertically integrated investment platform, and through strategic partnerships, NRIA maintains complete control through the investment lifecycle, which allows us to deliver exceptional results within many supply-constrained, high barrier-to-entry urban markets across the East Coast.
What are your primary responsibilities with the company?
I am the senior vice president of Global Business Operations. I manage a team of four project managers in India and I run the firm’s EB-5 visa program. Our primary responsibility is to raise foreign capital to invest in real estate development projects in the U.S. via NRIA’s Partnership Portfolio Fund, which offers foreign investors an assured 12% return on investment, and in the case of an EB5 investment, a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Last year, in December, the EB5 miniumum investment increased from $500,000 to $900,000 - $1.8 million depending on the geographic area of the project.
What is it about your job that drives you? What do you find most rewarding?
I believe in the American Dream, and I get great satisfaction from helping others achieve it. Matching foreign investors interested in U.S. residency with real estate investment opportunities that stimulate job growth is my mission. In 18-months, I have secured over $13 million in foreign investment, guided many foreign investors to permanent U.S. residency, and helped to create 260 good-paying American jobs in areas of high unemployment. I get so much personal gratification from what I do; it’s difficult for me to call it a “job.” We all try to make money, but money is not the motivating factor. For me, helping clients achieve their dreams is more rewarding.
Your career in real estate and mortgage financing spans 37 years. What led you to the industry?
I’d say my entrepreneurial spirit and my belief that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. At 16, I ran a successful clamming business on Long Island. In college, I founded a package delivery service that started with 17 interoffice mail stops and ended with 57 full-time drivers making multistate deliveries 24/7 by the time I graduated.
Then a friend of mine, a real estate broker, convinced me to get my real estate license. What really excited me though was the numbers side of the industry, putting deals together, so I got my mortgage-banking license. I’ve been a mortgage banker now for the majority of my adult career, running my own firm, with licenses in New Jersey, New York, and Florida, and as a partner in a New Jersey real estate office for 15 years. I joined NRIA about seven years ago to head up project management, which has expanded to our global operation. Now I’m able to help people achieve the American Dream on a much broader scale—whether that dream is U.S. citizenship, financial success, or homeownership.
What makes NRIA unique?
First, the company is not only focused on serving its clients, it’s also committed to improving people’s lives. We’re building world-class projects across the East Coast that are making communities better and stronger while providing an exceptional investment opportunity for investors to help them build wealth faster via low-risk, high-reward real estate development projects. In addition, as I mentioned, we help many of our foreign clients obtain U.S. citizenship.
Second is NRIA’s 100% successful track record. Since 2010, NRIA has acquired and developed, or is in the process of developing, more than 1,100 luxury residential units across more than 100 projects totaling over 2.3 million square feet valued in excess of $1 billion—all successfully completed.
Third, NRIA's excellent relationship with lenders allows us to finance a majority of projects with low-cost debt, which translates to more profits and higher returns for our investors. More than 950 investors have participated in NRIA's fund since its inception, and all have received full returns of principal investment and targeted returns. Ninety percent of our clients have invested again.
What traits are vital to the success of your company and your clients?
In real estate the three most important factors are location, location and location. I believe to be successful in business, the most important factors are listening, listening and listening. By being a good listener you can understand and meet the needs of the client. It’s critical in our business, and that’s my strong suit. Every investor has aspirations and dreams, and they need our help to reach them. That’s what we do—we help investors make their dreams come true. We do that by offering an exceptional investment opportunity that outperforms the averages and builds wealth quicker.
What does the future look like for NRIA?
A lot of good things are happening with NRIA today. The firm is now global, as we’ve broadened our investment opportunities to India and other countries, and we’re expanding across the East Coast—Florida, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey. We just broke ground on a 10-story building in West New York. With 97 luxury apartments, retail space, and parking, it will be one of the tallest buildings in that area. Last month, NRIA was awarded Best International Investment Platform 2019 for India by the Times of India, which was a nice feather in the cap for my team and me.
What is your motto in life?
My personal motto in life is “never look back and say I should have” as life to too short. It’s important to live each day to the fullest. My professional motto is NRIA’s motto, “Real Estate Investing Done Right,” which I wholeheartedly believe in. These two mottos are the fundamental principles that guide my work day. In my personal life, I have two grandchildren, and I tell them to “find the good things in every single day by focusing on the positive, and spreading that positivity to others. Again, life is short, so enjoying your time with family, friends, at work, and in your off time is so important and living your life with desire and gusto is key.
Glenn was featured in Who’s Who in American Finance in 2003 and 2006.
Glenn La Mattina
Senior VP of International Development—National Realty Investment Advisors
1325 Paterson Plank Rd., 2nd Floor
Secaucus, NJ 07094
LinkedIn: glamattina
Facebook: glenn lamattina
Twitter: glamattina
Download the Top 100 People in Real Estate magazine and see Glenn's feature on page 6.