For years, I struggled with whether I should keep writing this blog. On the plus side, the blog has introduced me to hundreds of people who became brokerage clients, property management clients and/or investors in our deals. On the negative side, I have educated a whole legion of people who compete with me for deals, … Continue reading “An olive branch to the competition”
Category: Property Management
(Re)tenanting a vacant building
Regular readers know that we’ve renovated and re-tenanted something like 80 buildings over the past ten years. If you haven’t done this kind of thing before, you have no idea how complicated it is and how much can go wrong. Over 80 buildings, we have made every kind of mistake you can think of. We’ve … Continue reading “(Re)tenanting a vacant building”
How we think about apartment design
When you’re designing apartment buildings, you need to resolve the following tension: You want the units to be cool enough to attract tenants today, while making them timeless enough to attract tenants for decades to come. We have settled on what I like to think of as “authentic Socal minimalism”: “Authentic”, because we avoid using … Continue reading “How we think about apartment design”
Down on emotional support animals
In today’s edition of Property Management Chronicles: Had two tenants in a unit They applied with no pets Decent-to-good credit, real jobs, etc. After approving them, they showed us paperwork for their three emotional support pitbulls No wanting to get in a huge fight, we let them in For the entire length of their tenancy, … Continue reading “Down on emotional support animals”
Unsolicited advice for owners of non-RSO buildings
Owners of non-rent stabilized apartment buildings in Los Angeles with rents below market (eg most of them) ought to be considering their options in light of the likely repeal of Costa-Hawkins. Two obvious courses of action: Sell now, while the market continues to (mistakenly, in my view) place a premium on non-RSO buildings; or Immediately … Continue reading “Unsolicited advice for owners of non-RSO buildings”
Why the Fed’s growth forecast matters
If you follow macro-economic news, today was a big day. In addition to raising short-term interest rates, the Federal Reserve bumped up its estimate for economic growth in 2018, from 2.1% to 2.5%. The question for LA landlords is whether this increased growth rate will result in additional jobs / wage growth. Why should landlords … Continue reading “Why the Fed’s growth forecast matters”
My on-going pain in the ass
In general, I find managing apartments to be the most painful thing we do. No one calls up his landlord to thank her when everything is great in the apartment. But when something goes wrong, it’s like you just killed the person’s dog. So, why do we continue to manage, rather than outsourcing? Well, the … Continue reading “My on-going pain in the ass”
Getting sick of crime again
In theory, I am a fan of reducing the number of people in prison. In practice, I am getting pretty sick and tired of having tenants’ cars and mailboxes broken into. These are not crimes of impulse, like seeing a nice bike unlocked and riding away on it. If you break a car window or … Continue reading “Getting sick of crime again”
Why we love (our) property management business
A lot of people in real estate HATE residential property management. Why? Tenants understandably get pretty upset when they’re paying good money for an apartment and things break. And, on the flip side, no one calls up her landlord when things are going great and says “Hey! Thanks for my apartment! It’s wonderful!” So the business … Continue reading “Why we love (our) property management business”
Dealing with tenant mental health issues
In light of the UCLA shootings, thought I’d spend some time today writing about an under-appreciated problem in property management: Dealing with tenants with mental health issues. If you supply rental housing in Los Angeles, your tenant base will skew towards people in their 20s and 30s. Unfortunately, the mid 20s is usually the time in … Continue reading “Dealing with tenant mental health issues”