We’ve now reached the point in the cycle where brokers describe their over-priced apartment deals as “condo conversion opportunities”. Why would a broker do this? Well, if your client demands a price so high that no buyer could actually achieve any kind of yield on their investment, you don’t really have many options. But, in all … Continue reading “Uh-oh… they’re baaaa-aaaccckkkk”
Author: Moses Kagan
Why I love density (it’s not what you think)
Last night, I walked over to the Last Bookstore, bought an interesting old novel for $6, walked home and read it. What does this have to do with real estate? Everything. Regular readers know I’m constantly banging on about density. I can’t stand the way city planning works in LA and I’m up on my … Continue reading “Why I love density (it’s not what you think)”
What we are doing here at Adaptive
Our business generally obeys a truism about investing: It’s relatively easy to generate market-beating returns with small amounts of money, but very difficult to do so with large amounts of money. Because we were capital-starved in the beginning, and needed to generate market-beating returns to attract more, we tuned the Adaptive model to generate market-beating … Continue reading “What we are doing here at Adaptive”
The CA Supreme Court just screwed up
Am a little late to the party on the California Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow so-called inclusionary zoning, but think it’s important to comment on what I regard as a total travesty. First, some background: Five years ago, the City of San Jose passed a law requiring that 15% of units in new buildings of 20 … Continue reading “The CA Supreme Court just screwed up”
Conflicting interests in the money management business
The NY Times has an interesting article today about conflicts of interest between private equity firms and their investors. The specific conflict addressed relates to payments to outside vendors like law firms: In a nutshell, many private equity firms pay two different rates: A high one, when they’re paying with investor money and a low one, … Continue reading “Conflicting interests in the money management business”
807 N Madison is DONE
Am thrilled to announce the completion of yet another apartment repositioning project, this one the 10 unit front structure at 807 N. Madison. This deal has an interesting back-story. I helped the owners buy the building way back in 2012, pretty early in the history of Adaptive. In many ways, it was a typical Adaptive … Continue reading “807 N Madison is DONE”
Some advice I wish I had received
Going back to Princeton for reunions recently caused me to do some thinking about my personal network, which led me to thinking about advice I wish I had received when I was a kid. The advice is this: Your personal network is the most important factor in your career; Your highschool and college years are … Continue reading “Some advice I wish I had received”
Some more thoughts about microunits
Bisnow has an interesting piece on the state of the art in microunits. For those who don’t know, “microunit” is the name given to super-small studios being developed in expensive coastal cities. The idea is to create a self-contained 220-350 sq ft apartment which, in theory, ought to be affordable for younger tenants who care … Continue reading “Some more thoughts about microunits”
Why I intentionally have a bunch of vacant apartments
Right now, I have a bunch of apartments sitting vacant. That sounds crazy, right? After all, we are in the business of renting apartments. Having vacancies means we’re intentionally not maximizing revenue, which means a lower return to us and our investors. So what’s going on? Well, we bought a bunch of buildings a few years … Continue reading “Why I intentionally have a bunch of vacant apartments”
Why we’re in emerging neighborhoods
Found myself talking about neighborhoods with a new agent of ours yesterday. We were discussing why our deals (both the ones we do for ourselves and the ones we broker) tend to be grouped in a few main areas, none of which are the Westside, Hollywood, or Miracle Mile. It’s not that we dislike working … Continue reading “Why we’re in emerging neighborhoods”