Just got done reading this piece in Pando, which is basically Sarah Lacy complaining about Lyft’s new Lyft Line service, which is basically paid car pooling (eg the software lets you split the cost of a car service with some strangers, thereby reducing the cost). Buried in the piece is an extraordinary insight from Lacy: That … Continue reading “The evolution of ride-sharing”
Category: Development
Some thoughts on my visit to Troy
During my visit to Troy, NY, I was enchanted, as usual, by the large number of stunning old brick industrial buildings sitting vacant along the Hudson River. These buildings are the kind that developers die for… brick (in an area with no earthquakes!), high ceilings, original casement windows, etc. You can take buildings like those and … Continue reading “Some thoughts on my visit to Troy”
Looking back at a miss
Periodically, I write pieces on here about how our knowledge of achievable rents cycles back into our acquisition process. Wanted to give you a concrete example. There’s a deal we looked at several months ago that sold in the $700-750k range. At the time, not knowing as much about achievable rents, we thought the deal … Continue reading “Looking back at a miss”
What you could learn from a wild-catter
Recently, I’ve found myself repeating the same piece of advice over and over, so I’m going to share it here. The context is as follows: Someone comes to me for help in optimizing her real estate business. He wants to figure out how to generate more revenue per deal or how to do more deals in … Continue reading “What you could learn from a wild-catter”
A dumb piece about Detroit
From time to time, I check in at Gawker, where the editors have recently taken to publishing anti-gentrification screeds. Yesterday’s piece about Detroit is a classic, a model of the art. Peter Moskowitz, the author, spends a bunch of time criticizing Detroit for allocating its scarce resources to the downtown area at the expense of the … Continue reading “A dumb piece about Detroit”
Welcome to the week of short posts
We got a deal that I think I really like over the weekend. However, the diligence period is only three days. There’s an unbelievable amount to cover in these three days: Physical inspections Reviewing leases, estoppels, rent roll, etc. Reviewing the permit records Compiling a construction budget for the rehab Confirming our pro forma rents … Continue reading “Welcome to the week of short posts”
Thinking through the environmental consequences of what we do
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”
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”
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”
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”