{"id":199428,"date":"2026-04-16T15:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199428\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:09:13","slug":"how-owning-manhattans-peter-zeitzaff-got-an-ivy-league-mba-in-3-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199428\/","title":{"rendered":"How “Owning Manhattan\u2019s” Peter Zeitzaff Got An \u2018Ivy League MBA’ In 3 Months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three and a half years of calls, texts, lunch invites \u2014 that\u2019s how long it took Ryan Serhant<\/a> to get Peter Zaitzeff to even take a meeting.\u00a0Finally, Zaitzeff agreed to meet up, but he made it clear that he was happy at Corcoran and wasn\u2019t looking to make a move.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fast forward six months, and viewers of Owning Manhattan<\/a> see the results of Serhant\u2019s persistence pay off. In a meeting at 200 Amsterdam, with \u201chundreds of millions of dollars of inventory to sell in one building,\u201d Serhant offered Zaitzeff the position of sales director of the entire building, thus sealing the deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe convinced me that the opportunity I would have at SERHANT. \u2014 with a lot of hard work \u2014 was a better opportunity than what I currently had. And he did a really, really, really good job of doing that,\u201d Zaitzeff said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

With more than $4.8 billion in sales and 500-plus transactions, it\u2019s not hard to see why Ryan Serhant wanted Zaitzeff on the team at his then-4-year-old brokerage. But how did Zaitzeff build the type of career that made him such a sought-after target?<\/p>\n

Humble beginnings<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to be an investment banker my whole life. The first girl I dated, her dad was a big investment banker. And I saw him, and I was like, \u2018That guy is super successful. I want to be like that guy,\u2019\u201d Zaitzeff said.<\/p>\n

Despite not having great grades, he got a job at Merrill Lynch in the private wealth division out of college. However, at the time, his mother and brother had just started a restaurant, Zaitzeff Burgers, which eventually expanded to several locations in New York City, before closing in 2018. Out of \u201cobligation,\u201d Zaitzeff put off his financial career and worked in the family restaurant business for about five years before getting married.<\/p>\n

At the time, he lived in a walk-up on Bond Street. Through friends, he met successful residential broker Dennis Mangone, who lived at 40 Bond, Ian Traeger\u2019s green building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018That guy\u2019s fancy. That guy\u2019s successful. I want to be like that guy,\u2019\u201d Zaitzeff said. \u201cSo I basically pursued Dennis [Mangone] \u2026 Six months down the road, I was like, \u2018Dennis, it\u2019s the summer. I\u2019m 28 years old. I\u2019ll work for you for free as an unpaid intern.\u2019 And so, I eventually convinced him to give me an internship.\u201d<\/p>\n

A foot in the door<\/p>\n

He finally got the three-month internship he had persistently pursued.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that time, I learned a lot about the business because Dennis Mangone [was] sort of a rainmaker in new development \u2026 He worked with Ian Traeger. He knew him from Studio 54. He worked with Steve Witkoff, who eventually basically made my career. And a number of other very, you know, fancy people,\u201d Zaitzeff said.<\/p>\n

At the end of the internship, Zaitzeff drove Mangone\u2019s car down to Florida, and en route, Mangone, who Zaitzeff describes as \u201ca character,\u201d hit the phone out of his hand and said, \u201cI\u2019m not hiring you. You\u2019re not focused enough. Talk to Susan de Fran\u00e7a.\u201d She was the head of new development at Douglas Elliman at the time.<\/p>\n

Opportunity knocks<\/p>\n

She knew enough about Zaitzeff to hire him at $50,000 a year with the promise of some great new developments coming up. From there, he was put on 150 Charles, the building that made his career.<\/p>\n

\u201c150 Charles was the quickest sellout, probably ever in the history of New York City, at three months. At the time, we sold for $3,300 a square foot, which was a record for the West Village,\u201d Zaitzeff said.<\/p>\n

How? He memorized the offering plan<\/a>, the bible of what the developer has to deliver to their clients, from front to back. Not only that, but floor plans, views, etc., because the building is complex with 80 different floor plans over 91 units.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeonard Steinberg<\/a>, Raphael De Niro, Darren Sukenik and Madeline Hult Elghanayan were the salespeople on it. So I basically got an Ivy League MBA in the course of three months. Because I knew everything, they brought me onto showings,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so I was meeting with the Jon Bon Jovis of the world. The Ben Stillers of the world. The captains of industry that we sold to at that time, and not just that, but those guys, those four brokers from their generation, I see as probably the best brokers of their generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

All four brought distinctly different expertise to the table. He describes Madeline Hult Elghanayan as very \u201cuptown,\u201d Raphael De Niro as \u201cnumbers-driven,\u201d Leonard Steinberg as \u201cpolished\u201d and Darren Sukenik as an \u201cold-school, pitbull Long Island broker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The career-maker<\/p>\n

Then, Steve Witkoff, now the assistant to President Trump and Special Envoy for Peace Missions, noticed Zaitzeff and put him on 10 Madison Square West. And then 111 Murray. And then a building in LA.<\/p>\n

After commuting to LA for a year, Zaitzeff decided it was too much and made the move to Corcoran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI entered into a luxury market from Day 1 because I was at 150 Charles and because I was surrounded by these sort of rainmakers \u2026 yes, I worked really, really hard, but I was also lucky,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lessons for agents<\/p>\n

Be persistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me six months to even get my foot in the door,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if it takes you six months to get your foot in the door, how long is it going to take you to get your foot into luxury?\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest lesson of all: Know more and be better than everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky to be put onto this project, but I also knew a lot about the project to put myself in a really lucky position to be on showings. Because as an assistant \u2026 you\u2019re not going on showings most of the time with the selling brokers. The only reason I was there is because I knew more than those guys. And they knew it. So they were like, \u2018We need him on here because he knows everything. He knows about the numbers.\u2019 And that\u2019s only because I memorized the offering plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell everybody that works for me now, I\u2019ve been doing this for 15 years almost, \u2018In order for you to be good, you need to know more and be better than me, right? Know more; be better than me. Because then, you are a value add.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Go behind the scenes with Inman\u2019s Dani Vanderboegh to get the answers to all your burning questions on the newest releases. Stay tuned to Real Tea<\/a>, the intersection of real estate and reality TV.<\/p>\n

Connect with Dani Vanderboegh<\/a> via email<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> or Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n