Today, I want to talk about windows. Still here? Good. Windows are a controversial part of the repositioning process. Replacing them is pretty expensive (on the order to $400-500 / window) and, while new windows open / close easily and look nice, no one ever rented an apartment because of the windows. Still, we intend … Continue reading “Some thoughts on windows (zzzzz….)”
Category: How to
Forget about high paying jobs
I’m a closet Redditor (guess I’m out of the closet now, huh?). And today I saw a popular piece on there titled something like “The 10 Highest Paying Jobs”. I get why people are interested in a piece like that, but they’re totally, utterly crazy. Why? With a few exceptions (almost all of which are in … Continue reading “Forget about high paying jobs”
The importance of a great insurance broker
Want to get into the business of repositioning apartment buildings? You’re going to spend a ton of time working with insurance brokers. Why? Well, consider what happens when you buy a building: You need a standard policy for the period between closing on the building and the beginning of construction; Then, you need a construction … Continue reading “The importance of a great insurance broker”
Letting a pitch go by
When someone joins Adaptive, one of the things I tell her is that she should not worry too much about making a mistake. The reasons are that (i) we can fix pretty much any mistake, so long as we know about it*; and (ii) Jon and I make bigger mistakes than any of our employees … Continue reading “Letting a pitch go by”
What hustle can do for you
Further to my earlier post about the amount of opportunity available for Millennials who want to seize it… thought I’d share with you the experience of one of our leasing agents this weekend. Keep in mind this woman has a full-time job she works during the week. Instead of sitting around all weekend (like I … Continue reading “What hustle can do for you”
How to handle call-downs
Today I want to talk about a little-discussed area of money management: How to handle call-downs. First, what’s a call-down? In most real estate deals, the investors don’t send all their money for the whole deal on the day of closing. Instead, they agree to commit a specific total amount to the project and then leave … Continue reading “How to handle call-downs”
When to start lease-up on a rehabbed building?
Here’s a question we wrestle with all the time: When should lease-up begin? You’d think this would have an easy answer: When construction is done. But you’d be wrong. Usually, buildings are “showable” (eg look pretty close to complete) 2-4 weeks before the construction is actually done. And, after carrying the building with no cashflow … Continue reading “When to start lease-up on a rehabbed building?”
One lesson from our foray into ground-up construction
We’re closing today on what will become either our second or third ground-up project (depending on how you want to count this one). In going through the design / permitting process, I’ve already learned a pretty valuable lesson, which I’ll share here. I always wondered why investors wanted to see a higher pro forma yield on … Continue reading “One lesson from our foray into ground-up construction”
A short book recommendation
Am super busy today with deals and hiring, so this is going to be a short piece. Want to plug a business book which anyone interested in marketing, even tangentially, should definitely read: Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. It’s an old book… more than a decade now. But it’s timeless, because, unlike lots of marketing … Continue reading “A short book recommendation”
Do you want to pay the price?
Every morning, when I’m leaving the gym, I ask myself one question: Did I pay the price? What I mean by that is: Did I put in the effort necessary to get the result I want? It’s kind of a gut check, just to see if I really tried or if, for whatever reason, I slacked. … Continue reading “Do you want to pay the price?”