Am reading a biography of Lew Wasserman, one of the most powerful people in the history of Hollywood, and it’s giving me plenty to think about. Lew took over MCA, the first real powerhouse talent agency, from Jules Stein, its founder. Stein started MCA representing bands that played at dancehalls (this is way back, in … Continue reading “Real estate lacks network effects, and I’m ok with it”
Author: Moses Kagan
Teaching an old(er) dog a new trick
We just agreed to buy a new property, with the intent of executing a business model which is different from what we have done before. It’s not too far afield from what we have done before, so we have pretty much all of the relevant skills, relationships, etc. in house. But underwriting the opportunity has … Continue reading “Teaching an old(er) dog a new trick”
An annoying new trend in apartment building listings
Apologies for the slow posting – have a lot going on right now. Wanted to highlight a ridiculous trend I’ve noticed recently in listings for apartment buildings. (Don’t want to offend anyone, so not going to name anyone in particular.) The trend is that brokers try to convince me to buy a property by noting … Continue reading “An annoying new trend in apartment building listings”
Where to find opportunities to cut construction costs
Have been spending some time reading about buying companies. One piece of advice is to buy suppliers that supply customers with a product or service which represents a small piece of the customers’ own business, but for which quality is crucial. For example, find a pipe-threading company that cuts pipe threads for oil and gas … Continue reading “Where to find opportunities to cut construction costs”
What to do if you get a Notice of General Manager’s Hearing and Notice of Acceptance into the Rent Escrow Account Program
Late last week, a new property management client sent over a Notice of General Manager’s Hearing and Notice of Acceptance into the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP) from the Housing and Community Investment Department of Los Angeles (HCIDLA). That’s one of the worst letters you can receive as an owner of apartment buildings in Los … Continue reading “What to do if you get a Notice of General Manager’s Hearing and Notice of Acceptance into the Rent Escrow Account Program”
A moment of gratitude
Want to pause for a moment to express gratitude for where we are and how far we’ve come since we founded Adaptive Realty in 2011. Fund 1 was $3.8MM in equity, and it was only that big because I got extremely lucky and had a family office that I’d never worked with before come in … Continue reading “A moment of gratitude”
Forced creativity
Back in 2010, anything you bought was a great deal. So, you didn’t have to be too creative… just buy anything, with decent financing, and you were probably getting a >10% cash-on-cash return. For the last 3-4 years, that has not been the case, at all. If you just buy a normal deal and do … Continue reading “Forced creativity”
A good book for prospective investors in real estate deals
Just read a really great book that I’d like to recommend here: Investing in Real Estate Private Equity, by “Sean Cook” (a pseudonym for an active market participant). The book is intended as a primer for (potential) passive investors in private real estate deals. It lays out all of the basic concepts, from pref to promote to fees, etc. Some … Continue reading “A good book for prospective investors in real estate deals”
A tough choice on tenant approval
Recently, I had to make a really tough call regarding a new tenant. A little background: We’re finishing up a very large re-positioning deal; We’re very close to closing the refinancing, which should return ~90% of the capital invested in the project, leaving us with a >20% / yr cash-on-cash on the capital that remains … Continue reading “A tough choice on tenant approval”
The two key levers
Read somewhere recently that the leader of a company ought to be able to write down the company’s key strategic objectives on one piece of paper. The idea is to make sure that the preponderance of the organization’s energy is oriented in the direction of a few key goals, rather than spread across many, minor … Continue reading “The two key levers”