Profile: Kevin Singer By Rense, Kirk* [Those who think receivers are all cut from the same
cloth – a conservative grey flannel –are proven quite incorrect by Kevin
Singer, whose path to prominence as a receiver had many twists and turns
and a number of rewarding digressions. Kevin talked about this journey for
the Receivership News. Ed.] His father worked in retail, but started to invest in mobile home parks. Kevin’s father had him work with the maintenance crews, learning plumbing, electrical, roofing, and landscaping and how to make evaporative cooler repairs (evaporative coolers are the premier cooling method in dry regions). Kevin eventually became so good with evaporative coolers that he started an evaporative cooler repair and maintenance company, when he was just 16. He recruited business clients by going door-to-door. After many rejections, he knocked on the door of a real estate office, where he made the acquaintance of Matt Welch, an owner of many properties. Matt hired Kevin to service many of his properties and gave Kevin a quote written on a little piece of paper. It said “Never give up.” Kevin still carries that quote in his wallet. If you ask, he’ll show it to you. Kevin earned an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Arizona. A real estate principles class he took as a freshman qualified him to get his real estate sales license, making him – at 18 years old — the youngest active real estate agent in Tucson. Tucson’s real estate market collapse in 1988 created an opportunity for Kevin to sell Tucson real estate to his University of Arizona classmates from California (whose parents were still riding a wave of real estate appreciation in California). These parents took advantage of Tucson’s depressed real estate prices, investing in condominiums and homes for their children to live in while attending college. Immediately after college, Kevin went to work for a finance company in Southern California, and moved to Huntington Beach — where he took up surfing in his spare time. Surfing soon became a passion of Kevin’s and he has traveled around the world in search of the best surfing waves. But Kevin still had plenty of ambition left. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1992 to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. Kevin says he had intermittent success — a role in a day time soap opera, a few T.V. commercials, appearances in films that never made it to big screen, and a theater show that ran for over a year. Kevin also fell in love with salsa dancing leading to the “greatest success of his life” — he met his wife and future dance partner at a salsa dancing class. Kevin and his brother Keith started a property management and real estate brokerage company in 1997. They started with one apartment building and, with a lot of sweat equity, their portfolio grew to more than 1,000 units. Keith left the company in 1998 to pursue his passion of law. John Rachlin, Kevin’s current business partner, bought 50% of the company. Then, in 2001, Kevin got a phone call that changed his life. An attorney for one of his management clients asked him if he would serve as a court receiver for an apartment building in dispute. Kevin says he had no clue about what a court receiver was or what a receiver did, but learned quickly. He soon realized that this was a profession he was well qualified to excel in and he enjoyed the work. Later in 2001, he was approached by a large management company that wanted to purchase his property management business. The timing was perfect so Kevin and John sold their company. Kevin continued to pursue receivership assignments, which was a challenge in 2001 because the economy was booming and there was not much receivership work. At the time, Kevin states it seemed to him that there were only a handful of receivers trying to get the majority of the work. His various professional endeavors at the time helped him gain a foothold into getting more appointments. At the time, Kevin was a rental property owner and served on the board of directors for the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. He was actively involved in protecting property owner’s rights and had a number of successes influencing legislators to modify laws affecting the rights of property owners. The board was impressed with his legislative accomplishments and offered Kevin the position of Government Affairs Director for the 36,000-member non-profit association. Because receivership work was slow at the time, he agreed to take the job on a part-time basis. This position gave Kevin the opportunity to meet many local, state and federal politicians and gain a first-hand understanding of how government works. One of his many accomplishments was setting up an emergency tenant relocation program, which ultimately found housing for tenants displaced by the Katrina disaster. He received several awards from the City of Los Angeles for his efforts, and was recognized for improving landlord and tenant relationships. In 2003, one of Kevin’s fellow Association board members was contacted by a Northern California bank looking for a receiver in Los Angeles. Kevin was referred to the lender, secured the assignment, and has been doing receivership work full-time ever since. He re-connected with his former business partner (and best friend) John Rachlin to create a company specializing in receivership appointments. Kevin enjoys the day- to-day challenges of the receivership business and all the various parties that he gets to work with on a daily basis. Today, eight years later, they have served and worked on more than 110 court receiverships and referee assignments. Kevin also serves as a Federal Court custodian. The two have expanded their business from real estate and partition assignments to now handling business receiverships as well. Their company, Receivership Specialists, now has offices in Southern California, Northern California, Nevada and Arizona. Kevin married his salsa dance partner Pamela Singer in 2000, and they have two children. Kevin reports that his now five-year-old son is an excellent drummer and baseball player. His daughter, now seven years old, is on a cheerleading team and is starring in her first off-Broadway musical production. His wife is an entrepreneur as well as a full-time mom. She has a gourmet caramel corn company, whose motto is: “Richer than the rest, undoubtedly the best.” Kevin has been a member of the CRF since 2001. He learned of the organization while serving as a rents and profits receiver for Judge Arnold Levin of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Kevin says he was having some challenges with a pleading and the court clerk recommended that he contact David Pasternak of Pasternak, Pasternak and Patton for advice. David helped Kevin with the pleading and also told him about the CRF, escorting him to a board meeting. “I was impressed with how friendly, supportive and willing all the board members were to share their years of knowledge and experience,” Kevin says. He has attended the last three CRF/Loyola Education Seminars, which, Kevin says, improved his skills as a receiver and allowed him to network with many of the attorneys and bankers who would eventually nominate him for receivership appointments. Kevin has become a major presence in the receivership community. He volunteered to serve as the Sponsorship Chair for the past two CRF/Loyola Education Seminars. His efforts brought in more than $119,000 in sponsorship fees for the California Receivers Forum. He currently serves as co-chair with Richard Ormond (of Buchalter Nemer) of the CRF Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter Education Committee. They have produced many outstanding education and networking programs for the Forum in the past two years. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the CRF Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter branch, and also is a director on the California Receivership Forum’s state panel. |