Blog

Our latest 4plex renovation

Thought you guys might appreciate seeing pics of our most recently completed project, a very large 4plex which happens to be located next to another of our projects. It’s obviously not the best time of year to be in lease-up, but the units are so special that I think they’ll go quickly.

Why buy in a rising rate environment?

Just had an interesting conversation with long-term partners of ours that I think bears repeating here. They asked the following (paraphrased) question: Why are you buying now, when interest rates are definitely going up and, therefore, values will be going down? The premise of the question is totally reasonable. When rates go up, prices go … Continue reading “Why buy in a rising rate environment?”

A Race to the Top for housing

By now, pretty much everyone acknowledges that the housing affordability situation on both coasts is a major cause of income inequality and, probably, a drag on growth. Have been thinking about what the next administration could do to improve things. The problem is obviously that cities control zoning and city governments tend to listen to home-owners, … Continue reading “A Race to the Top for housing”

Another ground-up going up

Thought you all would appreciate some pics of a small project we’re building ground-up. The permitting on this one was an absolute bear, but now it’s done, the plumbing is in, the foundation is poured and we’re into framing. Amazing how fast framing goes…  

Maybe my favorite example of insane city land-use

Want to see insane city land-use in action? Here’s a city-owned ~170,000 sq ft lamp-post storage yard: Note its location, 1.5 blocks from a major Red Line stop and three blocks from Sunset Junction, the coolest part of Silver Lake: [Map revised with help from PM – thanks!] At 170,000 sq ft, if this property were … Continue reading “Maybe my favorite example of insane city land-use”

Thinking through the implications of interest rate increases

Right now, the thing on everyone’s mind in real estate is the likely impact of increasing interest rates on asset values. As the economy continues to improve, the stage is being set for the Fed to increase rates in order to manage inflation. The Fed would probably have done this anyway, but Trump’s proposed combination of … Continue reading “Thinking through the implications of interest rate increases”

Thinking through Trump’s profit repatriation idea

As you may know, US companies have something like $2T in cash sitting overseas because they don’t want to pay 35% corporate income tax to bring it back on-shore. President Trump is apparently working on a proposal to allow companies to repatriate those profits at a much lower tax rate – something like 10-15%. The … Continue reading “Thinking through Trump’s profit repatriation idea”