Can you see what’s screwed up about this picture: What kind of an idiot doesn’t make that railing continuous? Here, in a nutshell, is our whole business: Everyone we hire to do things wants to do whatever is expedient and cheap. Even our clients often want to do what is expedient and cheap. But someone needs … Continue reading “Our business, in one photo”
Category: Development
An unsolicited political endorsement
I don’t know him personally, but I really like Councilman Jose Huizar of Council District 14. Here are some relevant, recent positions: 1. He’s trying to lift the insane ban on bars / restaurants that opened on Colorado in Eagle Rock after 1992 staying open past 9PM. If we’re going to be a real city, … Continue reading “An unsolicited political endorsement”
Lots of action in “City West”
What’s City West? It’s the neighborhood directly east of downtown… you might know it as Pico Union. City West is seeing a ton of development of huge projects these days. Holland Partner, for whom a good friend of mine works, has already done two huge deals there and just broke ground on a 600+ unit … Continue reading “Lots of action in “City West””
We’re not charging enough
One of the advantages we have in this business is that our units tend to command top-of-the-market rents. The reason is pretty simple: We spend a ton of time and money making each unit we renovate into the kind of place that we, ourselves, would want to live in. But I’ve been doing a lot … Continue reading “We’re not charging enough”
Why I don’t flip houses
This is a question I get all the time. And it makes sense, right? We have all of the resources in-house to buy screwed up single families, renovate them and sell. So, why don’t we do it? A few reasons: 1. While the returns can be somewhat decent on a percentage basis, they’re small in … Continue reading “Why I don’t flip houses”
Rent growth and its discontents
PA, a regular reader, sent me a link to an article that sets out the basic data behind the explosion in rents that we have been seeing over the past 2+ years. The trend lines in the graphs all go the direction you would expect… more rented units, lower vacancy, increasing rents. What isn’t graphed, … Continue reading “Rent growth and its discontents”
The problem with fences
Just returned to LA and one of the things that jumped out at me as I was driving Kinglsey to school this AM is how much horrible fencing there is all over our city. You know what kind of fencing I mean: Cheap, metal, and utilitarian. Another way to describe it would be “anti-human” – it … Continue reading “The problem with fences”
The miracle of the farmers’ market
Have spent the last week or so in Troy, NY, where I grew up. To give you a sense for how Troy was when I lived here: When NY de-institutionalized most of its mentally-ill population in the 1970s as a result of Geraldo Rivera’s investigations into the Willow Brook facility, a disproportionate share of the inmates … Continue reading “The miracle of the farmers’ market”
Troy real estate v. LA real estate
Am in Troy, NY with the b0ys visiting my folks. Driving around, you can see tons of boarded up old buildings, many of them beautiful old row houses. This would never happen in LA, because the demand for housing is so high that no one leaves anything vacant for long, absent some major issue with … Continue reading “Troy real estate v. LA real estate”
An embarrassing admission (about zoning… calm down)
I have been helping a client who is looking at buying a small piece of land to potentially develop. The lot is roughly 8,500 sq ft and zoned R2. I reviewed my trusty Los Angeles zoning summary, found the R2 row, looked over to the sq ft per unit column, saw “2,500” and figured you could … Continue reading “An embarrassing admission (about zoning… calm down)”