The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

When you buy a property, you can expect a property tax re-assessment in many parts of the country. So relying on the backward looking property taxes of the property may not be indicative of what you would pay once you own the property. Performing due diligence means developing a realistic forecast of the property taxes once re-assessed.  ------------ Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victor...

On today’s show we are going to look at some of the changes underway in the world of banking. I believe that banks have learned a lot about their business processes over the past two years. The pandemic forced an acceleration of the transition away from performing transactions in the physical branch to performing transactions online. We’re going to look at one major bank Wells Fargo as an example...

Levi Lascsak is based Dallas Texas where he has mastered the art of using Youtube's powerful search capability to have clients find him. Today is a powerful show that you will want to pay close attention to. To connect with Levi, visit passiveprospecting.com and register for an advance copy of his upcoming book.  -------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Matthew Ryan is based in San Francisco where his firm specializes in developing co-living projects. Co-living is a product class aimed at the young professional who is seeking an affordable high quality accommodation in high priced markets. To connect with Matthew and to learn more, visit re-viv.com ----------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

On today’s show we are talking about how having a sewer pipe at the edge of your property may or may not be useful. It’s a very common assumption that if the city services are available in the street, or perhaps nearby, you can have access to sewer services for your project. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Most sewer systems are designed to be gravity fed. So in an ideal world, the sewage tre...

These days at our development company Y Street Capital, it seems like we spend every day in underwriting. We are analyzing potential new projects, re-analyzing existing projects, and then analyzing them again. Bond yields are changing, which means interest rates are changing again. Some lenders who had paused their lending programs in Q3 and Q4 have re-entered the market and are being more aggress...

How is the US dollar still the world reserve currency? Every year or two it seems like the US is running out of money again. Legislative gridlock, combined with spending money like drunken sailors leaves the population wondering whether those in Washington entrusted to govern the United States are really worthy of the honour and the responsibility. The debt ceiling is coded into the legislation by...

You know me as the host of the Real Estate Espresso Podcast. By day, I’m also one of the partners at Y Street Capital where we specialize in new construction and development projects across the US and Canada. We are observing that Investors these days are cautious. We agree that it make sense to be cautious. You want to ask tough questions whenever you are performing due diligence. You really want...

We have heard of a debt trap. This is where the cost of servicing a debt exceeds the cash flow needed to service the debt. In those instances, some borrowers take on additional debt hoping for better days and hoping to outrun the bankruptcy. States, cities and provinces don’t have the luxury of printing money. They need to live within their means, or at least within their ability to get revenue fr...

On today's show we're talking about the negotiating techniques for sellers who are looking to sell when few people are buying. George taught negotiation at the law school at New York University for over 20 years. His writings on negotiation are based on his course notes from those days. George has established himself as a world class authority in negotiation through his many decades in the practic...

Paul Kazanofski is based in Nashville Tennessee where he runs Revision Homes, a high volume house flipping and one of the premier custom builders in Nashville. On today's show we are talking about the state of the market and how the downturn is affecting people in the business.  To connect with Paul you can find him on LinkedIn. ---------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.co...

What is the no-sale auto auction, and why do we care as real estate investors? The world of real estate is highly dependent on borrowing and the liquidity and affordability that banks and other major lenders can offer. But banks lend in multiple areas. They have consumer credit. They have subprime credit. They have real estate credit, automotive credit, commercial credit, and on and on. The auto i...

On today’s show we are going to take a closer look at AI tools that are making headlines. A couple of weeks ago I put out an episode on the OpenAI framework and the software ChatGPT which uses that framework as the underlying AI engine. In that episode I gave some live examples of questions and answers that I put to the software. In that episode, I concluded that the results were underwhelming and...

According to an article published in the Bloomberg Law Journal last week, we are in store for a massive meltdown in the world of hospitality. Just as it appears that travel is returning to normal, hotels are about to get slammed in the side of the head again. But this time its from their lenders. As of December, close to $4.1 billion out of roughly $93 billion in outstanding lodging loans are deli...

The World Economic Forum opened its annual meeting on Monday evening in Davos Switzerland. This five day in person event is one of the global networking events of the year where you can rub shoulders with some of the most influential people in the world. These folks hold sessions on everything from the economy to energy, to health care to climate change. The output of the conference seems more lik...

When you think of Elon Musk, we largely think first of Tesla, or PayPal, or more recently Twitter. None of these has the potential to materially impact the value of real estate. But SpaceX has changed the value of real estate in ways that are not showing up readily in the metrics. At least, you might not see the effect right away. Today, a large percentage of the population have adopted high speed...

Carina Guzman specializes in land development. On today's show we are talking about a 90 acre residential subdivision that is next to a ski resort. To learn more or to connect with Carina, you can find her on LinkedIn, or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_land_development_queen/ -------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Aundrea Newbern is the Chief Operating Officer at Get Rich Education. She also runs several businesses including a property management company, and a crime scene cleanup company that is based in Detroit Michigan. It turns out the crime scene cleanup can be a valuable source of properties for investors. Who would have guessed? You can connect with Aundrea at https://www.facebook.com/aundreasells or...

Today’s show is a little bit of a retraction, or perhaps a refinement of something we have covered last year. The US Federal Reserve had it right. The economists working for the Fed in 2021 suggested that the inflation we were experiencing was transitory. That was the word that they used. J Powell said it. Janet Yellen, Treasury secretary said it. Many including myself at the time didn’t believe i...

On today's show, we're answering a question from Martin who is looking to underwrite a small development project using an existing structure as the basis for the new higher density building.  ---------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Today’s show is the first in a series we are calling back to basics. Back to basics means getting clear on underwriting criteria. On today’s show we’re going to examine the interplay between your project approval criteria, versus your lender’s project approval criteria. When you undertake a new project, how do you know it’s a good project? --------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

On today’s show we’re taking a closer look at what it takes for the Bureau of Labor and Statistics to declare their numbers for GDP, and ultimately when they declare that we are in a recession. Why is this important for real estate investors? Well, interest rates keep rising because inflation is high and the economy is strong. The economy is strong is the part of that narrative that is continuing...

On today’s show we are going to focus on the market for T-Bills to try and understand why there is an apparent shortage of this paper. Demand is exceeding supply. Why is that? It doesn’t make sense. Is the market saying that they want to US government to spend even more? Do they want to see even greater deficit spending? The government holds a monthly auction for T-Bills and these notes sell in th...

Sam is based in NYC where his company is undertaking one of the most innovative coastal clubs that are actually floating private membership clubs. The first club will be located in Miami and you can learn more about the project at Arkhaus.miami.  --------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Fred Moskowitz specializes is based in Philadelphia and specializes in buying notes from lenders. He's a real expert in finding notes that are being sold in the secondary market. To learn more, you can download some amazing material at giftfromfred.com, or connect with him directly at fredmoskowitz.com