In our business, there is a lot of money to be made. I personally know agents who have cleared north of $1MM in gross commissions in good years. I know a guy who owns one of the midsize brokerages in LA and I think he clears $5-10MM / year. Obviously, huge asset managers like Blackstone, etc. … Continue reading “There’s no substitute for hustle”
Category: Success
My current inspiration
David Walentas of Two Trees Management. Who’s that? Walentas was in the business as small-time owner / developer in NY in the 1970s. Then, in the early 1980s, he made a deal to buy a bunch of warehouses in a then-ignored part of Brooklyn called DUMBO (“Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”) for something like … Continue reading “My current inspiration”
How much is my apartment building worth?
The short answer is, if it’s in Los Angeles, its probably worth more now than it has ever been worth in the past. Why? Because everyone with cash and a brain is sick of getting 0.01% interest in his/her checking account and is therefore chasing yield by buying buildings, because even a so-so deal on … Continue reading “How much is my apartment building worth?”
My surprising negotiating strategy
When I first broke off from my job in investment banking and went into business for myself, I negotiated like a jerk. I was convinced that winning the early rounds of negotiations about setting things up was incredibly important, because doing so would set a precedent for how things would be in the future. I … Continue reading “My surprising negotiating strategy”
Micheltorena is sold
A few days ago we closed the sale of 1516 Micheltorena, an 8 unit building in Silver Lake. Here are the relevant numbers: Bought for $954k in September 2010 Renovated for $645k Total capital outlay of $1.6MM Stabilized rent roll of $215k / year Took roughly $200k in cash out of the building while we … Continue reading “Micheltorena is sold”
2241 Branden is sold
We’re recording today on the sale of 2241 Branden St., a 5 unit apartment building we renovated in Silver Lake. Here’s a pic: Here are the numbers: Units are four 2/2s and one 3/3 Bought for $797k Renovated for $308k All in for a hair over $1.1MM Rent roll of $128k / year upon … Continue reading “2241 Branden is sold”
4443 Willow Brook – Sold!
We just exited another deal: 4443 Willow Brook, a 12 unit building in rapidly gentrifying East Hollywood. Here’s an exterior pic: Here are the numbers: Acquired for $925k in July 2010 Renovated for $700k All in for $1,625,000 Rent roll of approximately $217,000 / year when we stabilized it Extracted approximately $200,000 in cashflow while … Continue reading “4443 Willow Brook – Sold!”
Knowing your potential tenants
People always ask me why I haven’t expanded our business into the Valley. After all, there are tons of buildings out there and clear opportunities to make money. The reason I haven’t is that I don’t understand the tenants in the Valley, so I’m not comfortable that our organization would know how to deliver a … Continue reading “Knowing your potential tenants”
Disclose, disclose, disclose
Am doing a bunch of deals right now and keep running into the same problem: Buyers Sellers being slow to disclose issues with their properties. Bluntly, this is stupid. I’m not a lawyer, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that, by not disclosing problems with your property during the sale process, you are exposing … Continue reading “Disclose, disclose, disclose”
Building an apartment brand
One of the coolest things about what we’ve done with the Better Dwellings apartment portfolio is that we’ve created an honest-to-goodness apartment brand without doing anything besides banging out distinctive projects over and over again. Need proof? Here’s a list of the keywords people have searched on Google over the last six months to find … Continue reading “Building an apartment brand”