Morris Goldseker
Encyclopedia
Morris Goldseker was a real estate business tycoon, broker, and philanthropist. He was President and Founder of M. Goldseker Real Estate Company, a Baltimore
-based real-estate brokerage and services company, and is the founder of the Morris Goldseker Foundation. Goldseker became the most prominent real estate investor and broker and multi-millionaire in Baltimore during his forty-two years in the real estate business.
the sixth of twelve children, of which four died in infancy. His father was a fish rancher. Goldseker attended elementary and parochial school. He emigrated to the United States
, arriving in Baltimore Maryland on board of the ship Reim on August 28, 1914.
His first job was at Fried Pants Shop, he then worked at his uncle’s grocery store. In 1921 at age twenty-three, he and a partner acquired a grocery store. Soon after he began purchasing row homes for investment purposes. He taught himself the mechanics of real estate transactions, collecting rents, marketing, checking credit, and backgrounds of applicants, keeping books, paying bills, and forfeiting properties of tenants who did not pay.
His business strategy included selling homes to people who were discriminated against, and who could not get mortgages, aquiring the reputation as the purveyor of the best homes black people could get. His market were people from a certain income brackets, specifically the lower middle class. According to nephew Sheldon Goldseker, “People whose income was steady but not high. They could keep their heads above water, but had little income left over to build a nest egg. They were families who did not have a lump sum savings that could be the down payment necessary to obtain a mortgage loan.”
Goldseker accomplished the American dream. He came to America, could not speak English, and was penniless. He died with assets worth more than $20 million dollars.
′ business practices. In December 1969 a law suit was filed in which Goldseker was charged with price gauging, and entering into unfair contracts with unsuspecting patrons. Activists, Inc. claimed Goldseker made 85 percent profit, while Goldseker claimed he only netted about 19 percent profit on each house he sold, insisting that he was a fair dealer, providing a unique service to a difficult market. According to Antero Pietila, Goldseker secretly put the screws to Activist, Inc.′s chief witness against him in the civil suit, forcing the suit's withdrawal. Goldseker′s family strongly denounces the accusations.
, was created in 1975 with $11 million from Goldseker′s estate. It supports nonprofit organizations helping communities and individuals in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
-based real-estate brokerage and services company, and is the founder of the Morris Goldseker Foundation. Goldseker became the most prominent real estate investor and broker and multi-millionaire in Baltimore during his forty-two years in the real estate business.
Early years
Goldseker was born in Milinow, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
the sixth of twelve children, of which four died in infancy. His father was a fish rancher. Goldseker attended elementary and parochial school. He emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, arriving in Baltimore Maryland on board of the ship Reim on August 28, 1914.
His first job was at Fried Pants Shop, he then worked at his uncle’s grocery store. In 1921 at age twenty-three, he and a partner acquired a grocery store. Soon after he began purchasing row homes for investment purposes. He taught himself the mechanics of real estate transactions, collecting rents, marketing, checking credit, and backgrounds of applicants, keeping books, paying bills, and forfeiting properties of tenants who did not pay.
Business Strategy
In 1931 Goldseker founded M. Goldseker Real Estate Company which was located at 218 West Franklin Street in downtown Baltimore. This remained his office for over forty years. His company managed thousands of real estate properties. During the economic downturn of the depression, Goldseker knew that foreclosures were eminent. He asked lending institutions if he could manage the properties that were in foreclosure. He then purchased the foreclosed homes he managed, paying off the properties in which he was the note holder, aquiring the reputation of a good risk with savings and loans institutions and banks. The Baltimore City Government agreed to let him manage 1400 city properties that were in disrepair or needed management services. His services included “efficiently renting, managing, and maintaining real estate. In addition to this, he also managed properties with the Federal Home Owner’s Loan Corporation.His business strategy included selling homes to people who were discriminated against, and who could not get mortgages, aquiring the reputation as the purveyor of the best homes black people could get. His market were people from a certain income brackets, specifically the lower middle class. According to nephew Sheldon Goldseker, “People whose income was steady but not high. They could keep their heads above water, but had little income left over to build a nest egg. They were families who did not have a lump sum savings that could be the down payment necessary to obtain a mortgage loan.”
Goldseker accomplished the American dream. He came to America, could not speak English, and was penniless. He died with assets worth more than $20 million dollars.
Allegations
In the late 1960s, a group called Activists, Inc., followed Goldseker's financing to major Maryland banks and analyzed his and other blockbustersBlockbusting
Blockbusting is a business practice of U.S. real estate agents and building developers meant to encourage white property owners to sell their houses at a loss, by implying that racial, ethnic, or religious minorities — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews et al. — were moving into their previously racially...
′ business practices. In December 1969 a law suit was filed in which Goldseker was charged with price gauging, and entering into unfair contracts with unsuspecting patrons. Activists, Inc. claimed Goldseker made 85 percent profit, while Goldseker claimed he only netted about 19 percent profit on each house he sold, insisting that he was a fair dealer, providing a unique service to a difficult market. According to Antero Pietila, Goldseker secretly put the screws to Activist, Inc.′s chief witness against him in the civil suit, forcing the suit's withdrawal. Goldseker′s family strongly denounces the accusations.
Morris Goldseker Foundation
Before Goldseker died, he devised the plan for his foundation, stating “the Foundation will give special consideration to charitable organizations, which, by loans or grants or other steps, give aid and encouragement to worthy individuals to continue there education, establish themselves in business, overcome adversities, or maintain support for themselves and there families.” The foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, was created in 1975 with $11 million from Goldseker′s estate. It supports nonprofit organizations helping communities and individuals in the Baltimore metropolitan area.