The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

The book of the month this month is “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi. This book is all about relationship building and the business and life success that comes from building relationships. When I wrote the book Magnetic Capital, I realized that there were 5 principles that are essential to raising money. Briefly, the 5 are: Relationship Trust Results Compelling Opportunity Alignment between the...

On today's show I'm talking with George about his background, our monthly mastermind, and his take on the US China trade negotiations.

How often to marketers create artificial scarcity and tap try to manipulate their prey through fear of missing out or the acronym FOMO for short. This kind of manipulation is repulsive, see-through and yet we’re subjected to it time and time again. It’s like the store that has a one day sale in the window. Today and today only. But the sign has been in the window so long, it’s been bleached by the...

On today’s show we are talking about the impending recession. Yes, that’s right, the impending recession. I believe that both Europe and the US are facing recession later this year if they are not already in an economic downturn. What is the reason? Bloated inventories. Recessions happen when companies end up with bloated inventories. Most of the time, those inventories are the result of growing p...

Kara from Ottawa Canada asks. I have a firm agreement with a buyer for the sale of a property. Two weeks before closing the lender for the buyer indicated that they want to order a new appraisal and therefore the closing date cannot be met. The Buyer is proposing that we close the transaction with seller financing, or that we simply extend the closing date. I have very real carrying costs for the...

On today’s show we’re looking at another economic indicator that might signal a weakening economy. Truckers have for months been sounding the alarm about a "bloodbath" in their $800 billion industry. This year alone, some 2,500 truck drivers have lost their jobs as trucking companies large and small declare bankruptcy. That is a small number considering the scale of the industry. However, major pu...

Realogy Holdings Corp the largest full-service residential real estate services company in the United States, announced a couple of weeks ago a collaboration with Amazon. The new program is called TurnKey, a new homebuying program that simplifies the process of finding and settling into a new home. Now available in 15 U.S. cities, TurnKey combines Realogy's real estate expertise across its brands,...

Today’s show is a very special edition where I came across a lesson in marketing that was simply too brilliant not to share with you. We’re talking about taking a commodity, a commodity that is traditionally sold by the pound, and elevating it to another level, by wrapping a few key concepts into it. I’m coming to you live from Portugal where the economy here has been through its ups and downs ove...

Chris is based in Newport Rhode Island, where he runs a family business investing in single family homes across four states. His recession proof strategy has positioned him extremely well for any economic conditions. He also has a free book for our listeners at freesrecbook.com. Mention that you heard him here on this show. 

Linda from Katy Texas asks: "I’ve been considering buying an apartment building in a depressed area with the hopes that I can fix it up and increase the value significantly. Even at today’s rents, the property is being marketed as a 10% cap rate property. I can’t seem to find properties that deliver that kind of rate of return in a more desirable area. Why would I pay that much more for a property...

The year was 211BC and ancient Rome introduced the denarius as its money. The coins were nearly pure silver and the coins had a theoretical weight of about 4.5 grams.  The standard, although not usually met in practice, remained fairly stable throughout the Republic, with the notable exception of times of war. The large number of coins required to raise an army and pay for supplies often nece...

Today’s episode comes to us directly from Simon Black. If you don’t know Simon Black or know of him, he publishes the wildly popular Sovereign Man Newsletter.  Today's episode is the story of Tom's Diner in Denver, Colorado. It's about how some local activists nearly stole $5M in real estate value from the owner of a piece of real estate.  I want to thank Simon Black for writing today’s...

On today’s show we’re talking about one of the hidden costs, and therefore one of the hidden values of a parcel of land. This has to do with access to fresh drinking water. Water is emerging as the master resource that will determine the very survival of the human species. We tend to think of our water needs in terms of drinking water for human consumption and for washing and bathing. That for sur...

On today’s show we are examining the difference between two prefixes  A prefix is the start of a word that modifies the meaning of a word. In the word anti-septic, anti is the prefix that changes the meaning of the word septic.  In today’s show we’re examine the prefixes Inter and Extra. These prefixes are used to create the word interpolate and the word extrapolate. Both involve predict...

Yes, today is my birthday and I’ve been thinking about what I might like for my birthday. We’re coming to you live on location in France.  If you’ve been wondering where you might want to retire, living the dream of owning a large, spectacular and historic building in many countries can often be somewhat difficult to realise. Not so, in France. Many people thinking about retirement consider s...

Mike Lloyd is a specialist in business branding based in Silicon Valley. He started his career as a photographer and has translated that skill into having a broader impact. 

The changing face of retail means that retailers don’t need as large a footprint as before. As more and more business shifts online, delivery is often cheaper than prime real estate.  But secure delivery is still one of the friction points that is affecting the adoption of e-commerce in a lot of cases. The reports of stolen amazon packages from door-steps has caused some customers to avoid or...

All the major financial newspapers from the Wall Street Journal to The Financial Times are sounding the alarm bell on economic contraction at the moment. On today’s show we’re going to take a deeper look at what the numbers are telling us and see what it means for us as real estate investors.  Economic cycles are the result of expansion of supply capacity and building of inventory ahead of de...

On today’s show we’re talking about a new report from Freddie Mac on the state of the multi-family market nationwide. But the purpose of today’s show isn’t just to share information. It’s about what you do with the information.  When you prepare a financial pro-forma for investors and lenders, the numbers you choose for that financial model should not be arbitrary. They should be based on wid...

Julien in Cambridge Mass asks, "Should I get a real estate appraisal or a comparative market analysis?" Julien, that’s a great question.  The simple answer is it depends on what you need it for. A comparable market analysis, or what is sometimes called a broker opinion of value is a quick and simple approximation of the market value of a property. However, it’s not of high enough quality for...

Farhana asks, “Given the real estate prices in big cities are skyrocketing, which small city would consider investing?” Farhana, this is a great question. But before I answer the question directly, let’s ask another question. “Why would prices be skyrocketing?” The housing market is a free market. That is to say, prices are subject to the laws of supply and demand. Excess demand and prices rise. E...

Today's show is recorded live in front of Notre Dame Cathedral which suffered a devastating fire back in April. Check it out. 

Several listeners have asked me what it's like living on board a boat. Today I'm taking you on a mini tour of the boat and what it's like living aboard.

On today’s show we’re talking about one of the other impacts of the 2008 recession. A decade later we are seeing a significant difference between the number of single family homes being built versus multi-family.  Multi-family is growing in share of new permits across the nation. But in select markets that already had a substantial footprint of multi-family, that growth has accelerated. So le...

On today’s show we are going to reveal information that could dramatically alter your rental marketing. This is all about knowing your customer. You wouldn’t advertise pencils to someone searching for a fountain pen. If you know what your customer is looking for, connecting them with the right product is relatively easy. Sending the right message to the customer who is looking for what you have to...