On this Earth Day, no one would confuse me with an environmentalist. I generally take the view that environmental problems are best solved by pricing in the externalities of our industry / consumption, rather than restricting activities by law. So, for example, I’m fine with people using a bunch of water to grow almonds in … Continue reading “Thinking through the environmental consequences of what we do”
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More on getting our hands dirty
In case you’re still having trouble believing we’re not traditional money managers: I just got a phone call from my assistant, who is attempting to drop off a relocation payment to a tenant and get his keys. Turns out he is in jail for, among other things, threatening neighbors with a machete. So now I have to … Continue reading “More on getting our hands dirty”
Some thoughts on homelessness
Yesterday’s LA Times had a piece about advocates for the homeless challenging LA’s ban on sleeping on the beach. This got me thinking about the situation in Venice and around Skid Row downtown, where thousands of homeless people sleep outside, on public property. As a repositioner of apartment buildings, I have a special obligation to … Continue reading “Some thoughts on homelessness”
Accounting job opportunity
Apologies for the lack of posts this week… I’ve got a bunch of deals going at the same time and I’m swamped. But I do want to pass along this job opportunity: My CPA, who does a lot of work for real estate people, is looking to hire a full-time bookkeeper to work with him … Continue reading “Accounting job opportunity”
Will we give free advice?
Here’s a paraphrase of an email I got yesterday: “I’ve been working with another broker. I can’t seem to find any deals. Can you please give me some free advice about what I should buy.” I don’t mean to pick on the guy who sent it, but this kind of email drives us crazy. Why? We’ve worked long … Continue reading “Will we give free advice?”
Building a vendor network
Thinking about moving back the garage has put me in mind of another interesting facet of our business: The network of vendors we’ve created over the years. With respect to the garage, we needed to determine exactly where the property line is so that we know how much to cut. This is a job for a … Continue reading “Building a vendor network”
We still get our hands dirty
Sometimes I have this image in my mind of Adaptive as a sophisticated real estate private equity shop. After all, we raise discretionary investment funds, deploy them, and then (hopefully) harvest the returns for our investors. But nights like Tuesday snap me back to reality. Jon and I spent a big chunk of the that evening in … Continue reading “We still get our hands dirty”
An irritating appraisal issue
As discussed yesterday, we’ve recently run into some issues with appraisals. The most irritating issue is a deal where the appraiser has totally botched his estimate of market rent for a vacant unit in the subject property. The unit is an 800 sq ft, 2 bed / 1 bath, standalone house with parking in Mid … Continue reading “An irritating appraisal issue”
An appreciation of our team
Two of our agents are close to closing difficult deals right now. Both agents spent a ton of time with their respective clients, looking at who-kn0ws-how-many deals before finally honing in on these targets and getting them into contract. In escrow, both deals have had multiple issues with appraisals, lenders, etc. It’s looking like both deals … Continue reading “An appreciation of our team”
A few new deals
Just removed contingencies on two more deals. One is a fee for service deal with a long-term partner. The other is the first deal with the new pot of money we’re putting out. Both are pretty classic deals for us: 10 and 8 units, respectively Interesting bones Tons of deferred maintenance Improving areas near to … Continue reading “A few new deals”