I first reported in April that Dror was in financial difficulty.
He filed for personal bankruptcy many years ago.
A lot of people around town have invested in Dror’s development companies.
He filed for bankruptcy on one of his companies yesterday (SNH).
On one of his entities, he was in business with Zvi Fleishman. They are both Hancock Park Orthodox Jews.
From the Los Angeles Daily News, May 27, 2007:
On paper, the condo conversion craze has cooled dramatically since sales of homes and condos started to relax last year. In 2003, there were five sales of apartment buildings earmarked for condo conversions in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to Real Capital Analytics, which tracks real estate investment. The following year, the number jumped to 19, and then peaked at 50 in 2005. Last year, condo conversions fell to 24, and this year there has only been one sale to date, Real Capital Analytics reports.
But investors buying rent-controlled buildings in Los Angeles say there is still money to be made buying older apartment buildings and transforming them into condominiums.
"It’s not as attractive as it was a year ago, but if you buy right and do the work properly, it’s still profitable," said Brian Dror, a certified public accountant and managing member of a corporation that bought the 104-unit Grand Villas Apartments in Sherman Oaks last year.
"If I can sell for $400,000 (a unit), I capture 22 years of rent in one sales transaction," he said.
"Because the property is (under rent control), you can’t make money on it. It doesn’t make sense to stay in the rental business. (Apartment) owners have been looking for an exit strategy for a long time, and this has given them that," Dror said.
From Wells Fargo.com: "Ownership delivers long-term stability, both in terms of monthly costs but also in the address. In addition, the same low interest rates that have helped fuel the nation’s home-buying binge are also letting many small businesses buy their own space. "You may find it’s cheaper to own than it is to rent," says Brian Dror, an accountant with Barak, Richter & Dror in Los Angeles. "There are very good deals out there.""
