Have spent the last week or so in Troy, NY, where I grew up. To give you a sense for how Troy was when I lived here: When NY de-institutionalized most of its mentally-ill population in the 1970s as a result of Geraldo Rivera’s investigations into the Willow Brook facility, a disproportionate share of the inmates … Continue reading “The miracle of the farmers’ market”
Category: Uncategorized
Boyle Heights gentrification survival guide
Over the past 12 hours, I have been thinking about whether I have anything to add to the discussion / controversy kicked off by our now-infamous bike -tour flyer. This blog, which is usually read by a few thousand people interested in investing in LA real estate, is suddenly getting a lot of attention from people who … Continue reading “Boyle Heights gentrification survival guide”
Thinking about retirement
(Not me – don’t get excited.) Over the past few days, I attended a conference for wealth managers. I won’t lie: My intention was to meet the people tasked with managing assets for affluent investors, with the idea of convincing some of them to steer their clients my way. Turned out to be the wrong … Continue reading “Thinking about retirement”
2514 London is sold
Just sold the second of our Fund 1 deals: 2514 London St., a fourplex just south of the 101 in Westlake / HiFi This one was pretty good, though not nearly as good as our 1947 Clinton deal. The numbers: In for around $850k Took in cash of approx. $20k during ownership Sold for $1,150,000 … Continue reading “2514 London is sold”
Mid City Neighborhood Council
Went to the Mid-City Neighborhood Council meeting last night at the invitation of my friend Michael Sonntag, the president of the council. Was my first time attending one of these meetings, so didn’t know what to expect. Two contradictory thoughts on the meeting: 1. The business of local government is small-bore in the extreme. What … Continue reading “Mid City Neighborhood Council”
Two pet peeves in business journalism
Sorry, have to vent: 1. “So and so grew the value of the business from $100MM in 1985 to $500MM today”. That sounds really impressive, but it’s only a roughly 5.9% annual growth rate with compounding. Any time a journalist quotes two numbers divided by a period of time, s/he should automatically give you the … Continue reading “Two pet peeves in business journalism”
Sorry
For the slow posting. We’re enmeshed in several deals right now and I can’t really share any of the details on the blog. More next week; for now, enjoy the weekend!
Sponsored post on the Eastsider
In lieu of writing here today, I’ve written a sponsored post on the Eastsider, a blog covering goings-on in most of the neighborhoods in which we are interested. Here’s the link. (Note: If you read Kagansblog regularly, the Eastsider post may be a bit repetitive.)
How rent control shapes lives
Today’s NY Times has an interesting piece about the effects certain types of affordable housing has on the lives of the people lucky enough to benefit from it. Of course, the main benefit is that the tenant is able to live in a neighborhood which would ordinarily be totally out of reach. But there is … Continue reading “How rent control shapes lives”
Welcome, Eastsiders!
Just a quick note to welcome readers who stumbled across my most recent post on the Eastsider. This blog is all about my experiences buying, renovating, managing and selling apartment buildings in Los Angeles. Because I tend to write about issues that arise in my business every day, the topics can range from taxation to … Continue reading “Welcome, Eastsiders!”