Since I’ve decided to make my career in one little corner of Los Angeles, I spend a lot of time thinking about how best to preserve and enhance my reputation among the brokers, owners, and tenants who participate in my market. The most important thing I do to get and keep a good reputation is … Continue reading “On being a real estate mensch”
Author: Moses Kagan
Here’s a bad selling strategy
Take a look at this listing on Silver Ridge in Silver Lake: http://takesunset.com/2013/03/2338-silver-ridge-avenue-in-silver-lake/ Absolutely beautiful example of modernist design in an A+ location. So, why am I complaining about it? Take a look at those rents. They’re getting $2595 each, which implies they were rented pretty recently (if they’d been rented more than a year … Continue reading “Here’s a bad selling strategy”
Fee for services
Lately, it feels like we’re spending a lot more time speaking with potential partners about fee-for-services deals, rather than straight brokerage. What do I mean by “fee for services”? Jon and I have relationships with certain investors where we help them buy and renovate apartment buildings in exchange for brokerage fees and cash payments from … Continue reading “Fee for services”
Whither interest rates?
Literally every day, I ponder the following questions: When will the Fed stop buying bonds and allow interest rates to rise?, and When rates rise, how much will they rise by? If you believe that the Fed is going to keep stimulating the economy for several years and/or that, when it stops, rates won’t rise … Continue reading “Whither interest rates?”
A good apartment deal
This site is 99.9% for owners. But, because I’m always looking at rents in different neighborhoods, I sometimes come across very good rental deals. The one I’ve linked to below isn’t one of our buildings (otherwise, the rent would be higher!). It’s a huge apartment, with loads of parking, W/D, etc. in a fourplex in … Continue reading “A good apartment deal”
University Park Rent Survery
Today, we’re looking at rents in the USC University Park area. It’s an older neighborhood, centered on the University, with loads of old Victorian and Craftsmen homes in various states of repair. Situated between downtown and South Los Angeles, there is easy access to the 110 and 10 freeways and the Expo Metro line. Given the … Continue reading “University Park Rent Survery”
Don’t buy apartment buildings if…
1. You don’t like confrontation. Inevitably, you are going to have tenants who screw things up and need to leave your building. No one is going to care about it as much as you do, so you’re the one with whom the buck is going to stop. If you can’t stick up for yourself / … Continue reading “Don’t buy apartment buildings if…”
Bad miss
Rookie mistake today. Saw a deal on the MLS priced at $299,000. Looked pretty good, so, without waiting to talk to the listing broker, I threw together an all-cash offer for $260,000 and sent it over, figuring we’d settle at $280,000 or something. Got the following email back from the broker: “Sold for 340k just … Continue reading “Bad miss”
Eviction court
Spent my morning at eviction court on behalf of one of the owners for whom we manage property. Not, strictly speaking, the highest value way I could be spending my time. However, we try to manage properties the way we would if they were our own, and sometimes that means making no money and slogging through … Continue reading “Eviction court”
Done and done
Just finished leasing up a 5 unit Echo Park project we did with some partners. Leased all units between Wednesday and Sunday night of last week at rents ranging from $100-250 above forecasts. Read that again. On this deal, after paying us our fee, our partners own a brand-new, renovated apartment building for under 9x … Continue reading “Done and done”