The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Today’s show was inspired by something that happened recently. I was at a party and I met someone who said they knew who I was, but I didn’t know them. That happens often when you speak frequently as I do. She was asking me about the projects we have underway. She was telling me about the ideas she had for flipping houses in our local market, something she had never done before. The ideas she was...

Patrick Francey is CEO and Managing Partner of The Real Estate Investment Network. He can be reached at reincanada.com. 

Matthew Sullivan is the CEO of QuantmRE.com, a firm that specializes in a different form of financing for property owners. Chances are that you've not heard of this business model before. It's a fascinating twist on how to take advantage of the equity in a property.

We tend to think of most investors as rational beings who think through each situation and look for the best economic solution for a given investment.  But if that were true, there would be very few good deals on the market. There must be something else in play.  The root cause of good deals is a human emotion called pain. There are two types of pain. There is acute pain. This is the kin...

Last week I was in Toronto and my meeting was right downtown. Hotels were incredibly expensive, and the hotel where my meeting was being held was advertising rooms for $600 per night. So rather than stay near the airport and fighting rush hour traffic, I decided to look at short term rentals. I came across a listing for a penthouse apartment that was only two blocks from my meeting in the downtown...

On Monday the Social Security Administration issued their annual report. This story was relegated to a back page of the paper. Somehow the one and only story that’s going to affect every person in the country was less important than the optics of Mike Pence’s tax returns, which ultimately affects nobody directly.  This 270 page report lists a number of issues. I’m going to read directly from...

Virtually everything we buy emits sulphur to get it to the destination.  On today’s show we’re talking about a major shift in shipping that is not capturing major headlines, but will have a significant and measurable economic impact on global trade. 90% of the world’s trade is carried by ship. So anything that affects shipping is going to have an impact on the global economy.  One of the...

This weekend I spent a couple of hours in a flight simulator. My sister is the chief pilot for a major executive jet manufacturer.   Together we practiced take-offs, landings, ground taxi, instrument landings, avoiding thunder storms, low ceiling conditions, cross-winds, and engine fires. I’m talking one of those $20M machines that is cheaper than the $80 million dollar aircraft it imitates....

Peter Schiff is a well known author, economics commentator, fund manager, and radio host. His show, the Peter Schiff Show is consistently among the top business and economics shows. He's a frequent guest commentator on TV. He's the principal at schiffgold.com and now lives in Puerto Rico with his wife Lauren and his two children. 

Brad Smotherman specializes in notes and creative financing. His take on how to use creative financing to generate revenue streams out of properties that are in financial distress is utterly fascinating. You will definitely want to pay close attention to what Brad has to say. You can reach Brad at bradsmotherman.com.

How would you like the government has your home ownership partner? This week the Canadian government announced a new program that as far as I know is the first of its kind in the world. The measure would make it easier for first time home buyers with household incomes less than $120,000 per year to buy a home. But in this case, the government would register a lien against the equity in the home, a...

David from Seattle asks. Your recent episodes on the Fed and the worrying size of their balance sheet are timely but also quite unnerving. Given the potential strong inflationary pressure in the coming years, two popular hard assets come to mind: gold and real estate. In terms of cash flow, gold bars generally don't cash flow, whereas apartments can cashflow very well. Moreover, fixed rate mortgag...

On today’s show we’re talking about a strategy for creating value in expensive markets. In some of the most expensive cities in North America, cities are increasingly charging development fees or impact fees for new construction. These fees pay for paving new roads, for the cost of expanding water, sewer and public transit infrastructure. The rationale is that urban expansion costs money long befo...

Today’s show is focused on the consequences of the shrinking middle class. If you go back to the 1960’s and 1970’s it was possible for a single income family with blue collar employment to join the ranks of the middle class. Today, the number of two income families has grown and families are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet. The shrinking middle class has enormous economic and social...

Today is another Ask Me Anything episode. Robin from Ottawa asks. “How do you build relationships with high net worth individuals? In your book Magnetic Capital, this is one of the primary factors you touch upon. Let's say you meet an individual at an event and exchanged cards/contact information, what are the next steps?“ Robin, This is a great question. It’s one that I get frequently....

Today's conversation is a lunchtime discussion about how to negotiate development projects and some ideas on how development deals can be structured.  Enjoy...

Brien Lundin is the publisher of The Gold Newsletter, the foremost publication and oldest on precious metals. He's also the promoter of the New Orleans Investment Conference, the longest running investment conference in North America, now in its 45th year. Today we're talking about interest rate policy, government printing of money (quantitative easing), and the demand for gold on a global basis.

Today’s show is my perspective on the college admission scandal that has been grabbing headlines across the US. At the center of the scandal is a Rick Singer, a former Canadian football League player who has more recently been in the speaking circuit and working as a college admissions consultant. Fifty people, including 33 parents, were charged last month for their alleged roles in a scam by whic...

On today’s show we are asking the question is flipping a legitimate form of real estate investing? A lot of people enter the world of real estate investing because they are drawn by the lure of mailbox money. They are drawn by this thing called passive income.   Well folks, money comes in one of three ways. Earned income Residual Income Capital Gains Most of the wealth in the world has been c...

On today’s show we’re talking about how to make sense of confusing market trends. These days there is no shortage of contradictory data.  I’m continually reminded that real estate is hyper-local. The news media reports the averages, the macro trends across the nation, across a continent, and even globally. Somehow the news media is attempting to connect the dots and warn you that a slower gro...

David from Seattle asks.  Within the realm of private placements, how should investors think about investing in a fund vs in a project? Funds pool money and share the risk across multiples projects. However, funds further separate investors from the actual assets and deals. For example, a passive investor can't choose which individual project the fund may take on down the road, and it may be...

On a public show such as this, there is a tendency to focus on the positive, to highlight successes, to inspire you the listener to greater heights. On today’s show we’re talking about one of the darker sides of being in business. But as Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great says, you must confront the brutal facts. That’s what we’re going to do today. Earlier today I got a phone call from anot...

Robert and I sat down on the balcony of his suite on the Investor Summit at Sea for a conversation about his new book "Fake"  which launches on his birthday April 8.  

On today's show, special guest Ed Griffin joins me to talk about what it means to swallow the red pill. For those of you fans of the movie "The Matrix", you'll know exactly what we're talking about. For the rest of you, watch the movie.  We held a private screening of "The Matrix" on board The Investor Summit at Sea and then had a group discussion about what the movie meant in the context of...

On today’s show we’re talking about demographics and the senior housing market. The baby boomers began turning 65 years of age in 2011. Today the oldest baby boomer is 72 years old. By 2029 the remainder will also reach age 65 and account for more than 20% of the total population. By 2050 the population of senior citizens is estimated to equal 88 million people nearly double the current population...