The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

I live in Ottawa Canada, and I invest primarily in the US. This fact has given me a unique perspective on markets. I started my investing career by investing in my home market. I made my first investment in 2006. After that, you might remember there was this little event that started about a year later. The Great Financial Crisis had a global impact in many ways. I saw the opportunity to deploy ca...

On today’s show we are talking about inflation and whether higher interest rates will even help. When you listen to Fed chairman Powell speak, he spends a lot of time talking about inflation expectations. In fact, he mentions inflation expectations as being anchored in virtually every speech. So what is this anchoring of expectations and does it even matter? There was a paper published in May of t...

On today’s show we are asking the question “Are we in an orderly market?” Market volatility can be a function of exaggerated trading activity. In extreme cases, it can be the result of market manipulation. In the world of real estate, there are those market experts who are saying that we need to look at the long term averages. If you look far enough back you can construct a rolling average. This t...

On today’s show we are talking about the importance of hiring the best engineers for your real estate development projects. Engineering is not just about technical knowhow. Engineering designs are multi-dimensional. When you fix one variable, you can often break another. When problems arise in engineering it’s almost always a result of an incorrect scope, or an incorrect assumption or understandin...

All the way from Nashville, Tennessee, Leslie Anne Morris specializes in short term rentals in the Smokey Mountains. Today's show is a deeper examination of the laws of supply and demand and how choosing the best location is vitally important when it comes to short term rentals. Her website is JoshsCabins.com or InvestInthesmokeymountains.com where you can book a short term rental or learn more ab...

Matt Picheny is based in NYC where he started his career as a starving actor in live theatre. His journey into real estate investing is unique and inspiring. You can learn more and connect with Matt at picheny.com. Matt is also the author of the newly released book "Backstage Guide to Real Estate Investing". ------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). Today's question comes from Collins I’m the owner of a nice property on one of the main highways in an area of south Alabama that has sustained steady growth over the last 30 years. In fact, the city recently placed a year long moratorium on development. I saw this time as an opportunity to achieve favorable zoning and have my land packaged for any w...

On today’s show we are talking about what’s happening in the world of construction. The supply chain shortages of the pandemic are continuing as China pursues it’s zero Covid policy. New lockdowns have been ordered in Guangzhou, one of China’s largest manufacturing hubs. So much of what we buy is sourced from manufacturing in China. Shortages are not only about materials. It’s also about labor. Th...

On today’s show we are talking about the impact of construction cost saving on rental affordability. The narrative among tenant’s rights groups is that landlords are out there just getting rich and exploiting tenants. Developers need to be building more affordable housing. In Canada, the government in the province of Ontario has finally been recognizing that the cost of housing is linked to a few...

On today’s show we are talking about a shadow market that appears in the grey zone of the real estate market. When a condo developer launches a new building, you often get speculators who make purchase commitments on newly released units. They believe these first units released into the market are the lowest price point and that all future sales for those units will be at higher prices. It is true...

We are reading the headlines about layoffs that have started across corporate America. Twitter made headlines this week. But then anything involving Elon is making headlines these days. Even Facebook parent Meta is expected to lay off thousands after hiring nearly 42,000 employees since the start of the pandemic. Free cash flow at the company has fallen 98% in recent months. This is not limited to...

There was a time when calling distressed home owners was a great way to find investment properties. Our guest this week runs a virtual assistant business with over 1,000 employees. On today's show we are talking about what makes for a successful hire when working with remote talent. To connect with Bob, definitely visit revaglobal.com.

Mike Ayala now calls Austin Texas home. He and his partner Andrew Lanoie own, manage and operate a sizeable portfolio of mobile home parks. To learn more and to connect with Mike, check out the Investing for Freedom podcast.  ----------------- Host: Victor Menasce podcast@victorjm.com

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). William from Northern California asks, I find myself coming across more development opportunities and I'm needing some better "back of the envelope" criteria to help separate the wheat from the chaff.  Almost every deal requires spending some amount of pre-development money to bring the project into better focus.  However, at some point you...

On today’s show we are looking at the casualties of the latest Fed policy moves. On Wednesday of this week, the Federal reserve announced another 75 basis point increase at the FOMC meeting. These meetings happen every 6 weeks. The next one will be in the middle of December. We continue to experience a yield curve inversion where the short term interest rates are higher than long term interest rat...

On today’s show we are taking a look at some leading economic indicators that may give us some clues as to what is happening in our economy, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. I’m a huge believer in the law of supply and demand. In a world of short term business visibility, just in time manufacturing, it’s difficult to see supply gluts form until they’re upon you. Supply gluts can h...

Our book this month comes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He’s famous for his book “The Black Swan”. This book reshaped our culture’s thinking around rare but completely predictable events. His book, moved an entire generation of business leaders, and the title of his book The Black Swan has become part of the business vernacular. In fact, I would venture to say that most people who use the phrase Bla...

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). Paul from Northern Florida asks. I would like to first thank you for your work on your show. Your broad range of subjects and guest has made this a daily must listen to program for me. So thank you again. I would like to ask your thoughts on product research for new residential construction projects. While I am not a developer nor do I want to become...

On today's show George and I are discussing maintaining flexibility in negotiation. At the end, George offers some advice on how to negotiate with politicians. We are so blessed to have George's advice. At 94 years of age, one of the wisest men I know.  ----------------- Host: Victor Menasce email: podcast@victorjm.com

Michael Coffee is with Stacksource.com, a fintech company that provides an automated and streamlined borrowing process for commercial real estate projects. The service matches the borrower with the lender that offers the best terms to the borrower's needs. You can find Michael on LinkedIn, or connect with him directly at michael.coffee@stacksource.com ------------ Host: Victor Menasce email: podca...

Our world is very confusing at the moment. Whatever thesis you create, you can find the evidence to support your point of view. Even a review of the headlines in the Wall Street Journal on a single day can be contradictory. Apple reports record revenue. Amazon forecasts falling sales and the shares dropped 12% in after hours trading US Gross Domestic product up 2.6% in the third quarter. Boeing re...

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). Mike asks, Hi Victor,  I listen to your great podcast a lot and I notice that you and your company do a lot of development, which obviously effects and impacts the worlds environment that we all share.  You seem like a very practical and good person, so I’m wondering what do you and your company do to make sure that your projects are sustai...

As real estate investors we are very sensitive to interest rates. Rates for permanent loans are indexed to the yield on the 10 year treasury and in some cases on the yield for the 30 year treasury. But for short term financing like bridge financing or construction loans, these loans are indexed historically to LIBOR. It’s common to see a construction loan with a rate of LIBOR + 5.75% with a floor...

On today’s show we’re talking about a major development project that we have underway. We closed yesterday on a parcel of land consisting of 1783 acres on the edge of Colorado Springs. This property was part of a much larger property called the Norris Ranch that originally was close to 20,000 acres. There is a story behind Mr. Norris and the Norris Ranch. We purchased the property from Mr. Steve N...

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). Davindra asks I am a long time listener of your RE espresso podcast and have thoroughly enjoyed your well thought out  and efficiently delivered content.  Time permitting, I had a question on the most recent podcast about potential scenarios for the economy.  In the second scenario, you said, bonds would have a significant "run up" as...