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Looking Ahead
Every now and then I like to take a step back and take a 360 degree look at how I’m operating my properties. This includes asking those who work in the operations what I can do better to improve how we do what we do. It is truly impressive to see how much those around [...]...Read more »
“Tinny” Money and Real Value
Recently, I was at a deli in New York City which accepted “cash only” so I paid for my meal with greenback dollars. Over the last several years, other than handing out tips, I simply use my credit cards and avoid hard currency. When the cashier handed the change to me, I was stunned at [...]...Read more »
Finding Needles in Haystacks
The real estate market and the general economy in the United States are about as difficult to read and predict as I can remember. For instance, in chart 1 we note that Las Vegas was 9th in the nation in percentage of houses with foreclosure filings for the first half of 2012. Chart 1 [...]...Read more »
Confidence? I Bet!
Recently, I was in a discussion group with some very sophisticated investors of equities and real estate when I was asked if I was bullish about anything in the United States. I have been openly negative about our rising deficit and the lack of financial consequences for large banks and financial institutions that had been [...]...Read more »
To Raise or Not to Raise
Last month I discussed cash on cash yields on new purchases. This month, let’s talk about our current holdings and what to do about increasing income. Last week, I was presented with current rent rolls on a number of buildings along with rent surveys of the each property’s submarket. I was asked by the Regional [...]...Read more »
Knowledge is Power in Protecting Yourself
I love owning and managing rental property all over the world. It has provided for a nice living and given me great satisfaction in being able to offer steady employment to many people and contributing to the betterment of communities through our pride of ownership management style. At the same time however, it is important [...]...Read more »
YING (Raise Rents) / YANG (Cheap Purchases)
I’d like to start out this month’s report with some very positive news. For the first time in several years, a poll of my management company’s Southern California managers about the economy (“is it getting better, staying the same or getting worse”?), not one answered “getting worse”. About 2/3’s answered, “staying the same” while the [...]...Read more »
Bottom of the Housing Abyss in Sight?
Last month I indicated that my “buying lights” were flasing, both yellow and green. In this issue, I am going to discuss how one might find some green light deals and bulk sale programs being proposed to clear large inventories of foreclosed homes. You may wonder why as the writer of the Apartment Reporter, I [...]...Read more »
The Light is Flashing Green and Yellow
If you are a longtime reader than you know that I love statistics. In fact, I like to close my door and review charts and graphs in a vacuum with absolutely no commentary to see what conclusions I come to on my own. As a fellow commercial real estate investor, I’m in search of the [...]...Read more »