Category: Uncategorized

Went to an inspection today on a deal we’re thinking of buying. This was a weird one, in that the listing broker allowed all the buyers to walk through the property prior to having an accepted offer. I think this is good practice on the part of the listing broker, because it gives the seller … Continue reading “Imitation, flattery, blah blah blah”

Have just been invited to join the panel at an Urban Land Institute forum on acquisitions. I’m going to have to figure out how to tone down my habitual profanity so that they’ll invite me back. Would love to see / meet readers there. Here’s the link for registration. The flyer is below:

As you can see, we’ve renovated the site. Why? Because I want more people to sign up for my mailing list (you can sign up here). The mailing list is critical to our business, because that’s where many of our brokerage clients and equity investors come from. In order to raise the conversion rate (the percentage … Continue reading “Welcome to the new Kagans Blog”

Fellow not-under-rock-dwellers know that Obama issued an executive order yesterday granting a kind of contingent, temporary reprieve from deportation for several categories of illegal immigrants. This blog is about real estate, not politics, so I don’t want to get into debating whether what he did was right or wrong. But it is worth thinking a … Continue reading “Immigration and real estate”

Have been thinking about holding another seminar / property tour. Think this one would focus on one property we’re currently renovating. We’d examine the initial listing, our thinking in pursuing the deal, how we got it, what the issues were in diligence, and our pro forma. Then, we’d go walk the property to take a … Continue reading “Another seminar?”

In our business, we are frequently confronted by fairly complex problems. A good example is the SCEP process, where you often get a long list of issues that needs to be addressed without clear guidance on how to address them. To make matters worse, many of these kinds of issues are related, so that you … Continue reading “Problem solving”

Every 2-3 years, the Housing Department attempts to inspect every apartment in the city under the Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP). The inspections are at least notionally intended to ensure that landlords are running clean, safe buildings. In practice, the standards of enforcement vary so widely as to be kind of a joke… I have been … Continue reading “Fear the SCEP-Monster”

We do a ton of work for PMI, a company with deep roots in the creative office business which made a successful pivot to multifamily. Jeff Palmer, one of the principals, has taken up blogging and has a great post on the project we did at 653-659 Silver Lake. Unlike me, Jeff’s great about taking before and … Continue reading “Check out the new PMI blog”

Today we’re going to correct a damaging misperception about development. Many people out there apparently believe that the price of single family homes in desirable neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Echo Park is being driven up by competition from developers. Check out this comment thread on the Eastsider for an example of this line of … Continue reading “Correcting some really idiotic thinking re development”