June 2021
I’ve become a big fan of podcasts, specifically for apartment investing. They’re a great distraction when I’m working out or spin-cycling. They always seem to provide me with at least one insight on virtually every episode, some more than others. I tuned into one on BiggerPockets recently about gift-giving in the business world – phenomenal ideas! Another featured a sponsor for a deal I was already familiar with, and another was about LLC protection for your personal assets such as real estate. These are awesome resources, covering so much ground. Even straightforward shows that just feature a different investor or
May 2021
It is absolutely incredible how today’s bidding wars for houses has become so out of hand. Twenty, thirty offers? Twenty percent over asking? Where are these people coming from? And no longer just San Francisco and Seattle. But look at what’s going on in U.S. markets today. People are fleeing the pandemic, moving out of the cities, sometimes just to nearby towns but often further away to communities in secondary, tertiary markets. Builders struggle with exploding lumber costs. And job growth, abruptly halted early last year, has resumed its upward trajectory. Rental markets are seeing the results of this too.
March 2021
Time to travel to your markets. Planes are safe, businesses are opening, and except for some late-winter snows and storms, the coast is clear. I have spent some time in recent weeks making site visits to properties I’m interested in. One in particular was right after the big freeze that swept through south-central U.S. I could see how well some property managers responded and how some did not. Very informative. If you’re a tenant in one of those properties and the snow or snow-melt, garbage pileups, roof leaks, and huge lakes in the middle of your parking lots became part
February 2021
What does late winter, early spring mean to apartment owners? Time for optimism? Turning over a new leaf? I have seen three major events I can consistently look forward to each year at this time. Landscape improvements is one. Planting flowers and bushes and refreshing beauty bark, pool preparation. Maybe not in February but it might be time to get these jobs on your vendors’ schedules. Another is owners pulling the trigger on selling their property. It’s mainly a psychological trigger. There is nothing magical about the January/February time frame that makes this the best time to sell property, but
December 2020
December always seems to be a time of waiting. Whatever happened during the year, we think it will change in January. This year many of us have that feeling even stronger than in the past. New election, vaccine, end of eviction moratorium. Come on January, February, March, we need the changes you’re bringing. Don’t extend that eviction moratorium, don’t delay those vaccines. Oh yes, and one more thing: property owners, we need you to put your properties up for sale, at reasonable prices! Well we can wish for it anyway. The optimists are saying once a certain critical mass of
November 2020
Are you seeing more properties become available? We have, and it is encouraging. Owners still want more than the properties are worth, but with options come opportunities. Love it! A little bit of improvement in clarity on the future after an election helps, and a feeling of plans put on hold for too long helps too. Throughout this pandemic, even the year or two prior, we have heard brokers tell us over and over that nothing hits the market, it’s bought up before anyone even knows about it. And all of the value-add properties have been bought and renovated. Nothing