Selling, managing, & investing in MF commercial real estate. Talk about RE but sometimes gets personal. Born, bred, & went to college in LA. Insta:
@Bergermax
@Ziggys_Duck
This scene....fuck. The despair, the fake happiness, the acknowledgement about how bad things really are, and the reminder from the writers that there is no happy ending in this show. The Wire is the GOAT
I have that eastern-european jewish attitude towards spending money that makes me come off as super cheap. But today I let loose on a bucket-list item that I have been dreaming about since i'm a little kid: a 4 day heli-skiing trip in Alaska. Cant believe i'm actually doing this
Closed my first sub 3 cap today. I repped Seller and i've never been a part of a more lopsided deal in my life. It's not my job 2 weigh whether or not another adult made a wrong decision so im not going to. BUT it IS my job to get my client the highest price and wow did we ever
I've gone on a ton of listing meetings having won and lost more than i can count. But as i get older, it has become abundantly clear that most Sellers who are not professional real estate peopel (and even some who are), go with the agent who tells them what they want to hear.
A great tenant in one of our buildings died recently. He was young, incredibly friendly, and a great father. We don't have that many units, so this is new territory for us. It was from cancer and was fast. I didn't expect to, but I feel devastated. Fuck cancer dude. Ugh
The City of LA makes it so difficult to own and operate apartments at a small scale, that I have not spoken with a mom and pop owner in the last 3 years that has ANY interest in trading into multifamily in LA. EVERYONE i speak with wants to move their money into something else
@jkostecki_rei
@calebvoskamp
@Molson_Hart
Is there some morality law im missing that indicates me me me + friends is inferior to “sacrifice” and the other things you noted? The thinking that having kids is somehow morally superior seems old school to me. Esp given your dismissal of the fact that it actually is expensive
Heard a friend say "you can drive a truck through the bid-ask spread" and that perfectly describes my life right now. 9 listings, the most ive ever had at once, and its v quiet. Spoke with the top 30 buyers in the neighborhood where these listings are and half were "pencils down"
Section 8 rents for LA just came out and boy are they insane. $2400 for a one bedroom. That’s not much for some neighborhoods, but for some places around downtown and south central, that is an incredibly high amount for a Class C one bedroom.
I did an evaluation for an older gentleman who bought a building in late 2019 for $2.150m with 5 year debt. He told me he put $200k more into the property. I valued it from $1.75m to $1.95m. I even spoke with a debt broker who told me the building can barely service $850k in
2 closes in 2 days paying out ~six figs but this is not one of those "if i can do anyone can! come work in real estate!" tweets. I've grinded for 5 yrs, made hundreds of thousands of cold calls, taken thousands of gut punches, and dealt w WAY more anxiety than id like to admit
Say what you want about The Grove, but the newly built (from the ground up) Apple Store literally looks like a temple to capitalism. It’s a god damn beautiful store. These doors, the enormous glass front and doors, the ceiling….👌🏽 Good design is worth it
The most LA thing in the world is the scummy non-contingent offer followed by not getting your deposit in. Just went through this again on a competitive deal that had 6 offers. We started putting a clause into the contract that lets Seller unilaterally cancel the contract if EMD
Have snowboarded for 18 years but after getting into backcountry and tearing my achilles, it’s time to learn to ski. Being a beginner is the worst but it’s always good to be humbled every now and then. At least there’s the view…
You learn the most about the absurdity of housing politics by seeing how many development deals do not pencil (and thus housing units NOT built) bc of these absolutely ridiculous measures that were intended TO HELP with the housing crisis. They literally end up doing the opposite
Potential Seller: Here's the address and rent roll. Let me know what you think.
Me: *runs numbers*
Me to Seller: Hi Mr Seller, I ran the numbers. I actually have a property in escrow around the corner that is almost exactly like yours in terms of rents and unit mix. Given that
The multi family flip game has been basicially impossible here in LA if you started a project during Covid. Getting out with your money intact is a win. I wonder what happens and where this money goes in the future. Buyouts are impossible, Opex is through the roof, and political
LADBS is the worst org in the modern world pt N: restaurant nearby tried to open. Inspector from dif inspection pokes in, "That counter (literally a counter) isnt permitted." Owner says k ill permit it. FORCED TO FIRE EVERYONE & SHUT FOR 4 MONTHS WHILE PERMITS PROCESS
@MayorOfLA
@LA_Multi_Fam
The guys who do this have costs way below that. They take on 20+ projects at a time and manage all subs/construction in-house. Their price per foot to build will make you extremely jealous. Otherwise its not really profitable
City of LA apt landlords:
Per someone who definitely knows, it's extremely important we show up to the LA City Council Housing Committee hearing downtown Wed at 2:30pm.
I will be there & will take anyone who wants to join me for a drink or coffee afterwards. Pls DM to RSVP.
Going from LA to Chicago, it’s jarring to see a semi functioning city. Where are the tents? Where’s the trash everywhere? Why am I not getting screamed at?
Havent been very active on Twitter lately mostly due to the lack of inspiration from my local real estate market. But i was a late addition to
@REconveneLA
and I couldnt be more excited. See you all there
To my non-jewish real estate agent friends im telling you just whip out "shabbat shalom" at the end of your calls and youll see it earns you infinite real estate street cred. Only on Fridays though. Any other day youll look like an idiot
@BananaNutToast
@AdamNeumannsCoS
@WaifuPhD
Get off twitter and go meet the people doing the actual work. This is all just internet BS. Remove outliers and the average software engineer obliterates the average tradesman. Business owners in major cities (those on twitter) are not the average. Plus engineers sit in an air
Working remote and not the air quotes kind of working. Marketing listings, facilitating negotiations, and signing new listings all while getting in 2-3 hours of kiting in the middle of the day. Im freakin blessed. Location = La Ventana, Baja California Sur (2 hours north of Cabo)
How the hell did everyone over 40 deal w missed connections? I spent a really special night/morning with a girl at Burning Man, got her number when we split up, and then proceeded to lose my phone an hour later (lol). Its driving me mad. Screw the "back in my day" shit this sucks
East Hollywood rent-controlled value-add going into escrow at 12 times gross on existing rn. Fully marketed by top tier agent. Wowie! I dont think East Holly has been 12 times gross since 2012 or 13. It was 15.5 during during 2021 mania and 14 pre-covid for context
LA home insurance market in shambles right now. If you're trying to get a policy in the hills or somewhere rural, forget about it...CFP only. If you're not and you're in a normal neighborhood, you have CFP or Mercury. If you don't go with them, you're going with those unregulated
The trash monopoly in LA forced landlords into inspections to comply with a new organic matter requirement. Took 4 months to get the inspector here.
Long story short, landlords are now going to be responsible for their tenants abilities to separate trash. Tenants must separate
@rohindhar
Grew up very nearby. Its a fantastic neighborhood that has gotten so much better over the last 2 decades. If we're going on neighborhood aesthetics, its probably a top 5 neighborhood just behind the A++ super prime areas (brentwood, BH, Pali, Bel Air, etc)
I just spoke with a v sophisticated developer client who is usually right about this stuff and he said the ADU height max will be raised to 24 ft sometime next year. Likely around Jan? Anyone else hear this?
@markasaurus
@moseskagan
@PaulinaJones
@JesmanPaul
You know someone manages real estate when you search "guy" in their phone and there are 40 contacts. "______ gate guy", "______ stucco guy", "______ appliance guy"
The amount of Buyers who think i can magically talk the Sellers into taking their offer at a lower price is baffling.
Nah man, pay up or lets move onto the next.
SB-9 is so jarring that even my slimiest developer clients are having trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that they technically can walk into planning and say, "Yes, that 20k sq ft SFR lot surrounded by SFRs? I'm going to put 3 duplexes on it w 1-2 families in each unit"
@ebwhamilton
@MRodDC
Not a title company stan or anything but have you read a title report? Who owns the property is almost always the least important or interesting thing in it. Easements, oil and gas leases/who owns the mineral rights, covenants, and a ton more
Sometimes I envy
@realEstateTrent
and
@GuyDealership
bc I could really make this account insanely funny just with just a fraction of the crazy stories and stupid shit buyers, sellers, and tenants do every single day. The downside of using my real name
Theres a reckoning going on WRT Airbnb nightly rates in Joshua Tree & Yucca Valley. Some of the most incredible Airbnbs i've ever seen are going for 300-600 per night. Gorgeous 2 and 3 bedrooms houses with pools, views, and near the park. Gather some friends and go!
No one really talks about it because instagram is full of idiots but the secret to appearing rich without a huge salary is being childless and understanding credit cards points.
Sometimes you go out into the mountains and you just get humbled. Thats exactly what happened to me yesterday. I had been planning and training for an attempt at Mt. Sill (14,159') for a while and headed up Saturday morning. Walked 5 miles and set up camp above the beautiful 2nd
Cancelled my
@latimes
sub and crazy endorsements are just one reason. Billionaire buys socialist daughter a newspaper and it goes far left when everyone just wants the news. Endorsing Gascon is so beyond crazy to anyone who actually lives here. No wonder its losing 50m per year.
Building leaks from roof
Spend 40k to replace roof. No more roof leaks!
LA receives a historical storm where it rains sideways for over 12 hours
Building leaks from side of building just below the roof
😑
@shawngorham
In multi-fam i dont think this applies as it does in SFR. I've built my biz in my Subaru Legacy. 1) a lot of my clients are ultra-wealthy and they too drive normal cars and 2) my clients like me bc i dont bullshit, know what im talking about, and i do what i say im going to do.
So both of my ground-up deals just exited their respective planning department *with stamps* within 3 weeks of eachother. The first was purchased 18 months ago and the second 11 months ago and both went into design immediately. Not going to lie, that shit was HARD 1/n
@DeveloperDude_
1) Slap in the face to all immigrants who came legally 2) Need a way to account for the people inside our boarders. Who is here? For how long? 3) There are services that are public that may get overwhelmed if you didnt have any borders and 4) Most importantly, there are extremely
Another day, another set of regulations by the City of LA forcing mom & pop landlords to sell to large REPE shops with pro management systems in place which is what they were trying to stop in the first place. It's incredible how much policy can backfire but they march on!
@metrolosangeles
How many hearings are needed to understand that you should build a subway to the places people want to go? Those areas include but are not limited to Santa Monica Blvd in Weho (easily the most popular nightlife area in the city) and the Hollywood Bowl. Please dont screw this up
@TAYVAY_
At 25 i bought my van, took a year off, and lived/traveled in it for 6 months. Time of my life, realigned my priorities, and made me who i am today
LA MF question: I was pretty certain that ULA was going to cause multifamily rents in LA to fly over the medium term bc of how it was going to stifle the merchant build model. Then rate hikes came over the top which turned out to be an even bigger short term block of of new
I just remembered that Santa Monica councilperson who said unironically we don’t have a housing crisis we have an affordability crisis. Perfect way to piss me off on a beautiful morning
Theres a neighborhood in LA that is not the nicest, but it is some of the most desired multifam real estate in the city (with incredibly high rents) due to its proximity to the heart of the LA hassidic world. It's called Pico-Roberton, after the cross streets.
A deal just
I was 60 feet from my destination on Avenue of the Stars and the construction made it so that I moved less than 5 feet in 20 minutes. I was 60 feet from my destination but couldn’t take it anymore so I turned around. The traffic on Santa Monica Blvd was so bad that I turned into
As if the numbers spent on homeless housing weren't crazy enough, Baldwin Park raises $50m to convert an already existing 107 room hotel into a homeless shelter. Almost $500k per unit for something that already exists. This is actually crazy. Article posted below.
LA City Council votes to extend the 2 year old eviction moratorium. This type of political power grab will leave an imprint on my mind for probably the rest of my life. Is there any historical precedent for this?
@rohindhar
Loved this property when the original Seller listed it a year or two ago. I wrote an offer on it and lost to this guy. I think this is the second time hes listed it since he finished it. I dont think he's making much money on this. Regardless its a great house
Every year owners have to register rents with the City of LA during your rental registration renewal. Now they confirm with the tenants via mail if that numbers correct. I find this weird but not surprising at all
Realized this after my dad died at 18. Went through the motions doing what I thought I was supposed to do until crippling anxiety. Lived in a van and realized I just want to be outside as much as possible. Became a real estate broker bc I never wanted someone to tell me I
Do X job to build Y house to live Z life. It's a pattern we put too much stock in.
We accumulate to accumulate. To show others what we've done, but it's silly. It's performative unless it truly brings you joy. Life is complex, brutally so at times.
And beautiful.
@RussellLowery10
Track record and just being honest. Trying to explain what others are going to say and showing them my thinking with data the best I can.
Best deal to transpire in 2024: my GF and I came to the agreement that I would fix the towel rod if she agreed that $542 dollars was too expensive for a kitchen stool and we would attempt to find something similar for cheaper. Who said im not the shrewd negotiator?
There are non-profit homeless organizations in LA that will rent those 4bed 4bath double duplexes on a master lease for absolutely absurd rents. One client getting more than 15% more than what market would pay per unit AND landlord is only responsible for property taxes. These
Just another tweet about how LA building inspectors are the worst humans around, LADBS is the worst organization in the civilized world, and how 2 hour windows for inspections are torture for busy people.
I partially blame it on having achilles surgery and it ruining a whole summer of adventure. Life is short, good health is fleeting, and the adventures are numbered.
Anyone can set a sales price record in a bull market but what about when the market is in the tank? Just closed a transaction and got our Seller the highest price for a rent-controlled 4plex in Silverlake in the last 5 years. Not all agents are the same!
I talk a lot about how the City govt is asleep at the wheel with respect to RE, but the entertainment world isn’t getting any help either. The city govt takes entertainment for granted, but it could be the single greatest driver of the LA economy. It brings thousands of decent
Tell me you're single without telling me you're single. I'll go 1st:
My 1st house is gonna be a beater on a 10k+ lot. Drop an ADU in the backyard. Use SB 9 to split the lot, then throw a duplex on that bad boy with only one parking spot. Then rent the house and go back to an apt
I recommend getting an iPhone 14 just for the camera. Photo taken this past weekend during peak fall foliage up McGee Creek in Mono County (just south of Mammoth).
Nothing cooler for a LA history nerd than to walk through the halls of LA Country Club. The photos of BH, Holmby, and the Westside from the late 19th and early 20th century are incredible. Didn’t feel comfortable taking photos but I’m sure they’re on the internet somewhere.
@CohenSite
I dunno, I think Its crazy that they built SOFI without a way to get there by public transit. Imagine a Rams game, Clipper game, and a concert and the forum on one night. That area seriously needs the people mover