As our management company grows, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we affect the communities in which we work. Obviously, property management companies don’t have great reputations. Most people would probably prefer to rent from a nice, local mom-and-pop type who might occasionally forget to raise the rent, instead of a faceless corporation … Continue reading “How big property management companies improve the world”
Category: Property Management
Brooklyn to the Eastside
Was speaking with an applicant for my as-of-yet-unfilled assistant position yesterday and heard an interesting theory. Her argument was that many of the creative types who have been living in Brooklyn over the past 5-10 years are moving to LA. Ordinarily, I would ignore this kind of observation… after all, it’s not exactly backed by … Continue reading “Brooklyn to the Eastside”
Buildings we will manage and buildings we won’t
Have recently found myself explaining my take on our property management business to several people and figured I’d put it up here for general consumption. Lots of people ask us to manage their buildings and we generally decline. Why? In LA, there are basically two kinds of buildings: 1. Ones that have been renovated somewhat … Continue reading “Buildings we will manage and buildings we won’t”
Termites, housing and LAHD
You might be wondering how termites and the Housing Department intersect. I’m going to tell you. First, a bit about termites: In Southern California, most structures are constructed from wood. This is because wood is cheap, durable, and holds up well in earthquakes (because it’s flexible). The main downside to wood construction, which is that wood … Continue reading “Termites, housing and LAHD”
Silver Lake duplexes nearing completion
We’ve got two wonderful duplexes just south of Sunset nearing completion. When we help our client buy them, they were in rough shape. There was all kinds of deferred maintenance and the tenants weren’t paying much rent. The upside was that they were in a fabulous location, non-rent control and had parking, views, decks, and … Continue reading “Silver Lake duplexes nearing completion”
2514 London is in lease up
We’ve just completed construction on another fourplex for Adaptive Realty Fund 1. This one is on London St, just south of the 101. It’s kind of an experiment for us, since we’ve never done a project there before. But the units came out great, and we’re pretty confident we’re going to get our rents. If … Continue reading “2514 London is in lease up”
653-659 Silver Lake… leased.
We just signed the last lease on a 13 unit project on Silver Lake Blvd. Total time to lease up all of the units was 18 days, start to finish. Rents ended up averaging around 10% more than what we expected when we started the project last Christmas. Hat tip to Jon for his designs … Continue reading “653-659 Silver Lake… leased.”
Love that dirty water?
If you spend a lot of time in crappy parts of LA (like I do), you have probably noticed an odd kind of retail establishment popping up in low-end strip malls: Water stores. Here’s how these businesses work: They have a normal connection to the city water system They install a fairly expensive charcoal filtering … Continue reading “Love that dirty water?”
Silver Lake one beds – get ’em while they last
Just opened a new project for a fee for service client on Silver Lake Blvd. Take a look at these units: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/apa/4151779381.html I spent two weeks right before Christmas 2012 helping our partner close on what was a terribly neglected, blighted property in a great location. It’s amazing to see what Jon has done with the … Continue reading “Silver Lake one beds – get ’em while they last”
Is a rent controlled tenancy an asset?
Interesting story from NY over the weekend about a court case which will determine whether a rent-controlled tenancy is an asset. Here is a simplified version: Woman in NYC has a rent controlled apartment She runs up large credit card bills She files Chapter 7 bankruptcy to get the creditors to charge off her debts … Continue reading “Is a rent controlled tenancy an asset?”