I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about preventing bad things from happening on deals. That’s what due diligence is all about: Trying to identify all of the things that could potentially go wrong on a deal and then either ensuring they do not or else planning to mitigate the negative consequences. … Continue reading “On being aggressive”
Author: Moses Kagan
A terrifying Craigslist post
Just ran across this while checking up on the competition on Craigslist: We obviously run all our applicants’ credit checks ourselves, so we’re not particularly vulnerable to this kind of behavior. But many landlords will take a credit check form provided by the tenant and that’s definitely unwise, given the above. With rent control … Continue reading “A terrifying Craigslist post”
Our business, in one photo
Can you see what’s screwed up about this picture: What kind of an idiot doesn’t make that railing continuous? Here, in a nutshell, is our whole business: Everyone we hire to do things wants to do whatever is expedient and cheap. Even our clients often want to do what is expedient and cheap. But someone needs … Continue reading “Our business, in one photo”
An unsolicited political endorsement
I don’t know him personally, but I really like Councilman Jose Huizar of Council District 14. Here are some relevant, recent positions: 1. He’s trying to lift the insane ban on bars / restaurants that opened on Colorado in Eagle Rock after 1992 staying open past 9PM. If we’re going to be a real city, … Continue reading “An unsolicited political endorsement”
Lots of action in “City West”
What’s City West? It’s the neighborhood directly east of downtown… you might know it as Pico Union. City West is seeing a ton of development of huge projects these days. Holland Partner, for whom a good friend of mine works, has already done two huge deals there and just broke ground on a 600+ unit … Continue reading “Lots of action in “City West””
We’re not charging enough
One of the advantages we have in this business is that our units tend to command top-of-the-market rents. The reason is pretty simple: We spend a ton of time and money making each unit we renovate into the kind of place that we, ourselves, would want to live in. But I’ve been doing a lot … Continue reading “We’re not charging enough”
Why I don’t flip houses
This is a question I get all the time. And it makes sense, right? We have all of the resources in-house to buy screwed up single families, renovate them and sell. So, why don’t we do it? A few reasons: 1. While the returns can be somewhat decent on a percentage basis, they’re small in … Continue reading “Why I don’t flip houses”
Rent growth and its discontents
PA, a regular reader, sent me a link to an article that sets out the basic data behind the explosion in rents that we have been seeing over the past 2+ years. The trend lines in the graphs all go the direction you would expect… more rented units, lower vacancy, increasing rents. What isn’t graphed, … Continue reading “Rent growth and its discontents”
Check out the new PMI blog
We do a ton of work for PMI, a company with deep roots in the creative office business which made a successful pivot to multifamily. Jeff Palmer, one of the principals, has taken up blogging and has a great post on the project we did at 653-659 Silver Lake. Unlike me, Jeff’s great about taking before and … Continue reading “Check out the new PMI blog”
Correcting some really idiotic thinking re development
Today we’re going to correct a damaging misperception about development. Many people out there apparently believe that the price of single family homes in desirable neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Echo Park is being driven up by competition from developers. Check out this comment thread on the Eastsider for an example of this line of … Continue reading “Correcting some really idiotic thinking re development”