Just walked away from a really nice deal and I’m still in mourning. Last week, we were offered the opportunity to buy a group of smaller buildings in a single portfolio, off market, through a broker with whom we’ve done business before. The numbers looked good and even got a little better after inspection. I … Continue reading “Walking away from a potential homerun”
Category: Due Diligence
A really scary roof deck
Came across a listing for a renovated building yesterday that made me very scared for the potential new owner. To be clear, this was a nicely renovated building, with brand new systems, high-quality finishes, decent taste, etc. And the rents were pretty good – around $2500 for 2 beds with no parking, which, for the … Continue reading “A really scary roof deck”
When liquidity dries up for supposedly liquid funds
When people invest with us, I always warn them not to expect their money back at any particular time. Why? Because real estate is a fundamentally illiquid asset (eg it takes a long time to sell). As long as you’re not a forced seller, you’l probably do very well… but you can get killed if … Continue reading “When liquidity dries up for supposedly liquid funds”
Why people pay high prices
Had someone yesterday email me asking why I think people are paying insane prices for Los Angeles apartment buildings. By insane, I mean 15-19x annual rents. At those prices, there’s basically no cashflow; in fact, at the upper end of the range, it’s likely you’ll pay to own the asset each month (instead of the … Continue reading “Why people pay high prices”
What chutzpah!
Have been following a listing in Highland Park for a little while and wanted to share it with you all.* It’s a decent-size deal in a good area at a somewhat reasonable price. So, what’s the big deal? If you dig into the listing info, you will see that the building has an underground parking area, which is … Continue reading “What chutzpah!”
Losing a good deal to make a better track record
Am looking at a deal now that has an interesting problem: While ZIMAS and the county both show 12 units, the certificate of occupancy shows 11 units. The building only has 11 parking spaces, so it was pretty clearly built as 11, with the final unit added at some point along the way, most likely illegally. … Continue reading “Losing a good deal to make a better track record”
Bad news about open ceilings in LA apartments
Have some bad news for those of you who love vaulted ceilings in apartments… they’re almost always illegal in LA. First, what do I mean by vaulted ceilings? They’re the ones where you can look up and see the structure of the roof. Here’s an example: Beautiful, right? So, why should that be illegal? Two reasons: … Continue reading “Bad news about open ceilings in LA apartments”
How to research asking rents on Craigslist
If you’re going to do multifamily projects, you need to know your target post-rehab rents. In our business, we rely heavily on proprietary information from our existing portfolio. Since almost all our units are renovated to a similar standard and all our buildings are clustered in a few areas, we have very granular information about … Continue reading “How to research asking rents on Craigslist”
4443 Willow Brook is for sale (again)
Don’t get excited. I’m not breaking my prohibition against selling any more properties. 4443 Willow Brook is a 10 unit complex Jon and I renovated in 2010-11 via our old entity, Better Dwellings. We sold it in 2012 for $2.1MM, which was around 10x the rent. Whoops. We made a bunch of money on the … Continue reading “4443 Willow Brook is for sale (again)”
Why we pull the permits and how we share them with clients
Here’s an annoying catch-22 in which we often find ourselves in the brokerage business: Obtaining permits for a client. To understand why, you first need to understand how important it is to pull the permits on any building before buying it. The idea of the due diligence process conducted during the contingency period is to … Continue reading “Why we pull the permits and how we share them with clients”