When do you decide to compromise your strict buying criteria? Crazy money chasing every halfway decent property, not getting deals, and you’ve been waiting for the big downturn to buy. Now the downturn has arrived, your powder is dry, and brokers are sending deals. But wait! These aren’t good deals. Sellers are reporting rent delinquencies and vacancies, but at this stage at least, they aren’t open to lower prices. Was this the big downturn? Is this the buying opportunity we waited for? Where’s the discount? And even more important, should we compromise our buying criteria so we don’t keep missing

Pursuing acquisitions has become difficult on so many levels, to put it mildly. Buyers have moved from years of having to play in a relentlessly hyper-inflated seller’s market, to a nearly complete absence of new properties being offered for sale. The virus has infected commercial real estate. Sellers and buyers don’t know how to price properties, so owners hang on to them. The issues buyers deal with today start with not getting inside units. Brokers can’t take marketing pictures, buyers can’t perform due diligence, and inspectors can’t inspect. A lot of lenders are not quoting loans on properties because of

I just returned from Costa Rica. Lots of great scenery and warm beaches but what surprised me the most was the entrepreneurial people. I’ve not been a world traveler but have no doubt many developing countries around the world have similar qualities. They are people who inspired me and reminded me of what we’re capable of. My childhood was as normal as anyone’s and I worked hard and got a good job, but Costa Rica is filled with creative and hard working people. Something about needing to survive makes people that way. Their roadside stands had foods and drinks that

A new year and a booming stock market. What a great start! We’re just going to keep rolling right through the election! Right? Read one expert and we’re all in on stocks. Read another and too much irrational exuberance, the market’s crashing. Getting back to numbers, which is what real estate investors do, we can see that this is one tired bull. This chart is from the Financial Samurai blog, one of my favorites. It tells us mainly one thing: be wary of the stock market today, very wary. It also makes a good case for more future investments moving

Recession or no recession. Harmless or ruinous. Next year or 5 years. Who knows but keep in mind a few important trends. Millenials and Gen-Z-ers are renting rather than buying at astonishing rates. That trend is expected to continue. And commercial apartments have held their values significantly better than any other real estate class through prior recessions. That’s not to say throw caution to the wind. No, don’t do that. But there is hardly ever a time when you can’t look back a few short years and say I wish I bought then. And clearly the China trade war won’t

The political silly season is almost upon us, which leads to the question we’re all asking ourselves: how does this affect my apartment investments! We can find indicators to point in all directions but we maintain a point of view that we are optimists. We know there is considerable upside potential given the continued strength of today’s economy, but dark clouds loom on the horizon and unprepared investors get annihilated when the tide turns. How do you know your market will hold up in a downturn? What are your contingency plans for job losses and vacancies? Where will your tenants