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”

How to handle weather-related construction delays

El Nino is finally here and we’re pretty well prepared, at least with respect to the existing portfolio. But, unsurprisingly, construction workers generally don’t love working in the rain. And that confronts us with an irritating dilemma. We can: Suck up the resulting construction delays; or Bonus the workers (either directly or via their employing … Continue reading “How to handle weather-related construction delays”

Should I buy a condo as an investment?

Had two conversations with people interested in buying condos for investment purposes yesterday, so figured I’d repeat what I told them here. The first thing to understand about buying condos (and single family homes) in Los Angeles right now is that doing so is not really an investment. Why? Because prices are so high relative … Continue reading “Should I buy a condo as an investment?”

Keep talking

I spend an unbelievable amount of time either negotiating myself or quarterbacking other peoples’ negotiations. This doesn’t mean I’m good at it. In fact, I think I’m probably only an average negotiator, at best. But it does mean I’ve learned some things. And the most important of these is: Keep talking. Fairly often, I find … Continue reading “Keep talking”

The difficulty in building a money management business

Had an interesting dinner last night with a couple of guys who work for other people but are thinking about going out on their own to do deals. Found myself explaining the difficulty inherent in doing so and think it might interest you, my readers. The money management business is fundamentally amazing at scale. Here’s … Continue reading “The difficulty in building a money management business”

Using a tenants-in-common structure for 1031 proceeds

Over the past six months, we at Adaptive have got a crash course in tenants-in-common deals and I think this may open a new avenue for growth in our business. To understand why, you first need to understand what a TIC deal is: A tenants-in-common situation is one in which multiple owners possess a property … Continue reading “Using a tenants-in-common structure for 1031 proceeds”