Dealing with leasing anxiety

We’re going through a period of intense leasing, with multiple new buildings opening up over the course of, say, 3-4 months. Long term, this is a good thing. It means we’re finishing projects we started, in some cases, years ago, fulfilling the promises we made to investors. And, in a lot of cases, it means … Continue reading “Dealing with leasing anxiety”

Thinking about expected value with Elon Musk

Just started reading the Elon Musk biography and am feeling inspired. In case you don’t know of him: Musk started and sold Zip2 and then PayPal, then started Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity. The latter three ventures push the boundaries of what is possible with technology in electric cars, space exploration and renewable energy, respectively. From a … Continue reading “Thinking about expected value with Elon Musk”

What’s keeping me up at night

Do you know what’s keeping me up at night lately? It’s the following question: To what extent are apartments downtown and in Hollywood substitutes for the apartments we are renovating in East Hollywood, Silver Lake, Highland Park, etc.? I mean “substitutes” in the economic theory sense: “A product or service that satisfies the need of … Continue reading “What’s keeping me up at night”

Uh-oh… they’re baaaa-aaaccckkkk

We’ve now reached the point in the cycle where brokers describe their over-priced apartment deals as “condo conversion opportunities”. Why would a broker do this? Well, if your client demands a price so high that no buyer could actually achieve any kind of yield on their investment, you don’t really have many options. But, in all … Continue reading “Uh-oh… they’re baaaa-aaaccckkkk”