The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Today is another AMA episode. Karla asks, My husband and I are renting out our old house. In the process of switching a homestead home to a rental home I am doing due diligence. What are your recommendations regarding requesting quotes for a rental home insurance? What are the often overlooked things we should pay attention to when deciding the insurance company? Thank you Karla, This is a great q...

Our book this month is Be Present In This Moment, a Practical Guide to Mindfulness by Tessa Watt. The author Tessa Watt is based in London England where she has been practicing and teaching meditation for 20 years at the London Shambala Meditation Center. This book is not a new book. It was published in 2012. Mindfulness is growing in popularity as a technique which teaches us to appreciate our li...

Yesterday it was reported in the Wall Street Journal that JP Morgan Chase was going to pay $920 million to settle a market manipulation investigation DOJ, CFTC and SEC tied to manipulation of precious-metals and Treasury markets. These market manipulations were tied to a practice called spoofing. Spoofers typically send large orders to futures exchanges intended to change the appearance of supply...

Earlier this week, it was reported that UBS and Credit Suisse were in preliminary merger talks. These two banks are Switzerland’s largest banks and they are also longstanding competitors. If combined, they would become Europe’s largest bank. Both banks have major international interests including in the US. A few years ago, two of the banks I deal with were involved in a merger. To be fair, it was...

Joseph from Boulder Co asks: My question is about the viability of shipping containers as building material. I have seen amazing things being done with them and I'm wondering if it would work for our current project. We have the intention of creating a glamping vacation rental getaway (620 - 1240/sf) for parties of 4-8 people gearing towards millennials and tiny home fans. (Attached is a typical 2...

Jorge is a multi-family investor, developer, and property manager based in Dallas. He manages a portfolio of over 2,000 units in multiple markets including Houston, and most recently South Dakota,. To learn more, you can visit elevatecig.com. 

Paul Hopfensperger has swum the English Channel three times. I can't tell you how difficult this achievement has been. Today's story is such an inspiration. Paul is so humble and you're going to love this conversation.  Enjoy...

On today’s show we’re talking about how feedback delays affect speed of decision making. Today’s show is an explanation of how control systems operate. We’re going to start with a pretty simple control system that most of us are familiar with. Imagine you’re behind the steering wheel of a car. In fact, some of you are probably in your car as you’re listening to this. When you turn the wheel to the...

On today’s show we’re talking about the true costs of borrowing. Borrowers often look at the interest rate when it comes to figuring out the cost of borrowing. On today’s show we’re going to look at the hidden costs associated with signing a new loan. Loans come in all shapes and sizes. Most of them come with some form of up-front fees. These fees can be inclusive of disbursements. In other cases,...

On today’s show we’re talking about getting access to high value market data for free. I’m a big believer in getting access to market data and using that data to make decisions. I also believe that independently developed market studies are essential to make sure you’re not deluding yourself. Whenever there is a new commercial project undertaken, you can bet that there is going to be a third party...

Technology is testing the boundaries of new business models, and the pandemic is creating sufficient disruption to accelerate the adoption of these new business models. I had dinner delivered to my house last week from a restaurant. The restaurant is only about a 2 minute drive from my house, but having dinner delivered during an evening when I had a packed schedule was incredibly convenient. A ne...

There is a black knight at the black jack table. At first this statement might seem a little obscure. But stay with me on it and you’ll see it. If you’ve been listening to this show for a while, you’ll know that I’m a big believer in economic fundamentals. I’m a believer that 1+1=2 and the math needs to balance at the end of the day. I have this strange belief that in order for an investment to re...

Jonathan Tuttle is based in Chicago Illinois where he invests in mobile home parks nation wide. On today's show we're talking about mobile home park investing and gaining insight into how that market is evolving. You can reach Jonathan at midwestparkcapitalfund.com

Mike Simmons is from Try Michigan. Today's conversation is all about how to scale your business from a solo-preneur to a larger business.  You can connect with Mike at mikesimmons.com

Today is another AMA episode (ask me anything)  Ryan asks: "I live in Los Angeles and have been working on my education and networking to break into the Commercial Multifamily Investing space (particularly in Arizona); however I do have an opportunity to possibly break into ground up development of built to rent units here in Los Angeles. A buddy of mine who develops (completed 24 units, 6 un...

On today’s show we’re talking about the latest guidance from the Federal Reserve regarding interest rates. Yesterday the Fed announced the result of their latest committee meeting. They reaffirmed their guidance on maintaining interest rates low for the next 18 months, and then they extended that guidance by another year until the end of 2023. The Fed talked about the role for monetary policy whic...

On today’s show we’re talking about where are we with this darned pandemic that has dominated this year 2020. There are lots of conflicting data points and individuals, business leaders, public health officials, elected officials, and investors are trying to figure out where this is all heading. This is an area I’ve been studying deeply for a long time. The Corona Virus is new in the past year, it...

On today’s show we’re talking about the usefulness of your property and how the title report can help you understand what you’re buying. You’re buying a piece of property. You pay the purchase price, and now it’s yours. But the truth is, it’s not that simple. There are so many things that can encumber the use of your property. All kinds of things that affect your property can be recorded in the of...

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything). Brad from Ottawa asked me to look at a prospectus for an international hotel fund. He is asking for my opinion on the offering. Clearly the global environment for hospitality has changed dramatically. Nobody knows what the new normal will be for hospitality following the pandemic. We’re talking about hotels in warm weather getaway destinations. We do...

This talk was given earlier this week at the Durham Real Estate Investors meeting in Toronto. When we think about project management, there are so many facets to consider. The goal of this talk was to give attendees something tangible and actionable to use the very next day.  Enjoy...   

Britnie Turner is CEO of the Aerial Development Group in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also the founder and CEO of the Aerial Recovery Group. On today's show we're talking with Britnie and her chief of operations Jeremy Locke about the initiative that she and her team are taking to aid in the disaster recovery from Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles Louisiana.  If you want to learn more, you can...

On today’s show we’re talking about the law of large numbers. The law of large numbers is a mathematical theorem in statistics thatdescribes the result of performing the same experiment a large number of times. According to the law, the average of the results obtained from a large number of trials should be close to the expected value and will tend to become closer to the expected value as more tr...

Today is another AMA episode (Ask Me Anything) John from New York asks: With states, cities and towns possibly being under financial pressure due to decreased business during pandemic, how would you underwrite the purchase of a multifamily asset?  How much of the increased tax can be passed along in a rental increase? John, this is a great question. If you look at most cities, they get their...

On today’s show we’re talking about an event that took place about a month ago. It made a few headlines at the time, but there’s been very little said about it ever since. There’s a global debate raging on the best way to handle the global pandemic. Let’s be clear, there is no good solution. There are three trade-offs to be made. 1) Protecting health for people who might be susceptible. 2) Minimiz...

There’s no question that there is a monumental shift happening in the world of commerce. Much of this is driven by the continual need to cut costs. Retail space which touches the end consumer is still relatively expensive. In fact, rent for a retail business rates among one of its top expenses. Not only that, the density of merchandise per square foot is quite low. After all, you want to be able t...