The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Mark and Tami Kenney are multi-family investors. In a few short years they have acquired about 4,500 units of multi-family apartments together with their partners. It's enabled them to abandon the corporate life, and focus on their passion. Join me for a great conversation about how to make the transition from small projects to larger multi-family apartment investing.

Michael Flight is a principal at Concordia Realty from the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. He specializes in shopping center investing nationwide. Just because retail is going through major changes, doesn't mean there isn't opportunity. Join me for this immensely educational conversation about investing in shopping centers. You can reach Mike at www.concordiarealty.com

In late-18th-century America, something of minimal value was often described as being “Not worth a Continental,” which referred to the Continental Dollar, the American currency at the time of the American Revolution. The continental was paper money. It had occurred to the colonists that, as their revolution was costing quite a bit to maintain, they could go into “temporary” debt to finance the war...

Today’s show is a personal story. We are all part of this journey called life. The daily struggles are universal. Managing time, energy, diet, exercise, finances, commitments, friendships, cleaning up messes and mistakes. Finding the time, and creating the space to live out your dreams. I’m a pretty driven individual. If you’ve been listening to the podcast you probably have that sense by now. &nb...

On today’s episode we are going to slow things down. Often in this fast-paced world, with a short attention span we only see a very small snapshots what is really happening. When you turn on the television news you will see a nine second segment of the Federal Reserve Chairman‘s testimony in front of the US congressional committee. We are talking nine seconds out of a two hour hearing. There is no...

Today’s episode is another AMA episode.  Today's question comes from BJ in Raleigh North Carolina. He sent me quite a detailed package of information that is far too much to cover in a single episode. However, I will summarize his project and give my initial reaction based on the information provided. BJ is looking to assemble five different parcels of land into a single large development sit...

On today’s episode we are talking about the laws of economics and how they apply to the world of investing.  As real estate investors, we make choices about where to invest, when to invest, what us a class to invest in, and the positioning of the product in the marketplace. When you perform due diligence on a particular opportunity there are always three elements to look at in detail.  T...

On today’s episode, we are discussing what it’s like to work with an architect on a new development project. Few people understand the myriad of constraints that have to be balanced when developing a new building. Justin Greenleaf is one of the principals at the architecture firm of Greenleaf Lawson based in New Orlean, Louisiana. Join me for this insightful conversation. 

Limor Markman is a Toronto based real estate educator and host of the national TV show The Fortunate Future. She's one of those folks flying around the country hosting weekend workshops for new investors. Unlike many educators, she's still an active investor. On today's show we pull back the curtain on what it means to be a real estate trainer. 

Today’s episode is the book of the month book review. In order to be considered for a book of the month the book has to meet a very simple criteria. It has to be impactful enough that it will change your life or your perspective on the world. Whether it does or not is entirely up to you. You might read the book and comment on what a great book it was. But if you don’t internalize the book and make...

On today’s show we are talking about a new rule under the generally accepted accounting principles that could profoundly affect the way commercial real estate leases are written in the future. If you’re a property owner where your commercial tenants sign multi-year leases, you need to pay close attention.  There is a new rule under GAAP that requires companies to disclose long term lease obli...

This week Berkshire Hathaway published their investor newsletter. It’s widely read and many people look to the newsletter for clues on how to invest. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are legendary in their sustained performance. The company has been conservative and continues to build cash reserves. They haven’t made a major acquisition in nearly 3 years. The part that I noticed in the newsletter...

About a decade ago a Brazilian private equity firm called 3G Gapital made waves in the US when it spent billions to buy Americas most notable food brands including Kraft, Heinz, Burger King, Oscar Mayer and Budweiser.  Following the acquisitions the new owners relentlessly cut costs including mass layoffs to create greater efficiency and profitability. The companies single minded ability to i...

On today’s episode we’re talking about how you can prevent the next violent social revolution. History has seen its share of violent uprisings.  The French revolution which began in 1789 was not just a single event this was a protracted period of a people that lasted over 10 years. The causes of the French revolution or complex and still debated amongst historians. The French revolution took...

Today's episode is a real life case study recorded live at the Real Estate Guys, "Secrets of Successful Syndication" conference in Dallas Texas. This project started like many of our projects with a clear plan and solid market data to support the thesis for the project. Everything changed when the city announced a plan to expropriate 1344 properties in the area, including the land for this project...

Today's episode is about a purchase that ended in a lawsuit. This story is packed with suspense, uncertainty, stress, and wisdom. Check it out. 

On today's episode we are talking about the major considerations when designing a new development site.  Developers often look at a site from the perspective of how many units of finished product you can place on the parcel of land. This is an area that is fraught with complications. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the number one constraint on virtually every project is road ac...

On today’s show we’re talking about how to negotiate with your general contractor.  Often times, when a project is designed by an architect there are design tradeoffs that seem perfectly reasonable at the time. The design process consists of a complex puzzle of conflicting constraints of function, aesthetic, zoning constraints, building code, and cost. At the end of that process you get a few...

On today’s show we are talking about the most insane statements to come from economists in recent memory.  I’m acutely aware as I’m sure many of our listeners are, of the unsustainable levels of government debt in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy. I could go on.  The justification for the debt is that as long as the interest rates are lower than the level of real economic growth,...

My friend Michael from Pennsylvania has started a Real Estate Meetup, and in a short time has attracted a sizeable high quality audience. His question is “What is the benefit of hosting a free event versus a paid event?” Michael, this is a great question. There are two main ideas that I want to get across in answering this question. We are familiar with the concept that you go to the marketplace a...

On today’s show we’re talking about one of the key take-aways from the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland only a few weeks ago.  A few weeks ago the Forum published their annual Global Risks Report. This 114 page document was developed in partnership by the Zurich Insurance Group and Marsh and McLennan Companies. Insurance companies make it their business to understand risk. But before...

Kevin Bupp is an expert in Mobile Home Investing. It's clear from our conversation that Kevin has developed a very deep expertise. He's the host of the Real Estate Investing for Cashflow Podcast.

Russell Gray is the co-host of the Real Estate Guys Radio Show. He is also the co-host of The Investor Summit at Sea, one of the most incredible professional growth events in the world. On today's show we are talking about the Investor Summit at Sea and why we both attend each year.

This is a special bonus episode about the recent Amazon announcement that they were pulling out of the NY second headquarters.  I predicted that Amazon might take this step despite the public announcement back in November.  The major political objection was the tax incentives that were negotiated with Amazon as part of the overall decision to locate in the NY area.  On the surface,...

On today’s show we’re examining a potential source of revenue for your income property that has the benefit of a little extra cash flow, plus being environmentally green.   The economics of solar power have been somewhat marginal over the past several decades. That’s why governments have stepped in and offered generous incentives to subsidize the cost of a solar installation. That subsidy usu...