Blog

We had a little acquisitions drought mid-2018, which meant that we hadn’t started a new project for a while. Now, we’re back in action.

“Fully-upgraded units with significant upside potential” You’d be amazed at how often I read those words, or something like them, in broker packages. And it still drives me crazy. You’re telling me someone went to a ton of trouble to renovate all the units in an apartment building and then, when it came to lease-up, … Continue reading “Fully-upgraded units with significant upside potential”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”