The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

On today’s show we’re talking about how shopping has changed. But not just shopping in general. We’re talking about how my shopping has changed forever. Last week, my wife and I were on vacation. We chartered a boat on an inland waterway in central Ontario. We were going through the locks and my wife lost grip of the boat hook and it fell in the water. Normally, a boat hook is a specialized item t...

John Fortes has been syndicating apartment projects for a small number of years. He's a relative newcomer to the world of syndication. Listen to how he rapidly made the transition from investing in single family to multi-family properties. John can be reached at JohnFortes.com. He's also the host of the Passive Investor Show. You'll want to check out that show as well. 

Steffany Boldrini is a former technology entrepreneur and host of the Commercial Real Estate Investing From A-Z podcast. She is based in San Francisco and on today's show we are talking about what's happening in several asset classes in the San Francisco market including the residential rental market, and the commercial rental market.  

The much feared W shaped recovery is upon us. Attempts to open up the economy and to restart the floundering food and beverage industry have hit a snag. This past week saw a record number of new infections across multiple states in the US. There is understandably a degree of Covid-19 fatigue in the population. Summer is in full swing and people want to enjoy the outdoors. The question is how to do...

We are living through one of the most perplexing periods I’ve ever seen. On today’s show we are talking about how in the middle of an economic downturn, some indicators suggest a red hot market. Restaurants, Construction Companies, and DIYers Drive Demand Lumber and plywood prices are hitting record highs as various sectors of the economy respond to the pandemic. Restaurants and bars are buying wo...

Dominic asks, Dear Victor, Thank you for the ongoing excellent content. While awaiting projects to invest in that make sense to me, I’ve been looking at various places to hold capital. Do you have any thoughts regarding the “infinite banking” concept using whole life insurance policies as a collateralized asset? The pitch seems to be that these policies provide tool to park unused funds with some...

On today’s show we are talking about how to look at a property through the lens of a developer. So often when I talk to the seller of a property, they will tell me about the zoning of the property and how the property has so much potential. Sometimes they will tell me what is possible with a zoning change. Some have even gone so far as to tell me what another property sold for that was approved fo...

On today’s show we are talking about how to deal with inertia when you hit an obstacle. There are two types of inertia. The first one is obeying Newtonian physics. But we’re not going to focus on that one. Hitting an obstacle when you’re in motion usually results in a crash. But we’re not talking about physics. We’re talking about when your project encounters an obstacle. We’re talking about findi...

Yonah Weiss is an incredibly well connected member of the real estate community, not just in his home town of NYC, but nationally as well. He specializes in cost segregation in addition to his role as a real estate investor. On today's show we're talking about cost segregation and how it can be a powerful tool for improving the tax efficiency of a real estate investment.  You can reach Yonah...

Today's show is an excerpt of a conversation with Keith Elias held earlier this week at the Ottawa Real Estate Investors Organization. Keith heads up the Player Engagement Department at the National Football League. He's a former real estate syndicator, and a former running back with the Giants and the Colts. Our conversation sets a powerful context for living. Rare to have such an intimate conver...

On today’s show we’re talking about the many impediments to getting stimulus money. One of the newest programs is the Main Street Lending Program. This program is designed to help medium sized businesses that have been impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic. When you look at any business, there is the basic financial score card consisting of the income statement and the balance sheet. That’s every bit...

That is the question.  On today’s show we’re Talking about one of the strategies that are working in today's changing market conditions. Many markets are experiencing historically low inventories. We've gone through a period of reduced market activity, and this has resulted in shorter days on market, multiple offers and higher prices. These are traditionally the perfect market conditions for...

The path from A to B is rarely a straight line. As humans, we like things to be nice and neat and orderly. Linear relationships are simple to calculate. They are simple to understand. We’re conditioned to think linearly. We have been conditioned to forecast the future based on extending a straight line from the past into the future. Most investment graphs imply such an exercise even when the usual...

While the world has been distracted with the Covid-19 pandemic, and while much of the US has been consumed with rage, China as decided to ‘never let a good crisis go to waste.’ On today’s show we’re talking about the sweeping new security laws in Hong Kong and the impact of that on real estate in both Canada and the US. When Hong Kong’s basic law came into effect in 1997, it left some unfinished b...

On today’s show we’re talking about whether markets really need a market maker. But first we need to define what a market maker is. The role of the market maker is to introduce liquidity into the market. The problem in many markets is that too much time passes between the buyer and the seller getting together. This passage of time means that the market price can fluctuate up and down depending on...

Dan Butler has about 3,000 apartments under management in the Memphis market. Memphis is a difficult city from an economic stand point. He shares some insights on the pandemic and how his business has fared during this period of social isolation.   

Gary Beasley is the founder of Roofstock.com, an online marketplace for turnkey rentals.  This fascinating innovation has sold thousands of homes so far. You can reach Gary at Roofstock.com.

Evan from Toronto asks, My wife and I, along with our Real Estate Partner, are looking to buy our first rental property in the GTA by the end of the year! We really like the BRRRR strategy but have some questions since we've never used it before! 1. What have you found is the best way to structure private lending? 2. What are the top three things that can go wrong? 3. How do we find comps in small...

On today’s show we’re talking about the effect of the pandemic on rental markets across North America. The results are somewhat surprising. The biggest worry has been whether tenants would pay rent despite the staggering job losses. It seems that the stimulus money that governments have been showering the country with have been effective in protecting rental payments. The National Multifamily Hous...

The book this month is called The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek How do we win a game that has no end? Finite games, like football or chess, have known players, fixed rules and a clear endpoint. The winners and losers are easily identified. Infinite games, games with no finish line, like business or politics, or life itself, have players who come and go. The rules of an infinite game are changeable...

On today’s show we’re talking about some leading indicators that might predict what will happen in the housing market 3-6 months from now. As we all know, there is a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures in most areas right now. In the US, the moratorium on evictions was extended again until at least the end of August. The big debate is whether we will face a period of real estate asset deflati...

On today’s show we’re looking at some of the leading indicators to predict what might happen in the housing market three to six months from now. We’re currently in the middle of a moratorium on both evictions and foreclosures. Let’s talk about rentals first. We will talk about foreclosures on Tuesday. The moratorium on evictions doesn’t mean that tenants don’t need to pay rent anymore. It simply r...

Rich Danby hails from my home city of Ottawa Canada and can be reached at rich@richdanby.com. On today’s show we are talking about how most goals for 2020 were impacted by the pandemic and what to do instead. How can you set goals in an environment of such uncertainty? 

George is a repeat guest on the show. On today's show we're hearing George's take on the economic recovery and on negotiation with China. Fascinating perspective.

Vacation bookings usually happen months in advance. Employees book the time off work. They buy the airline tickets far in advance to get the best prices. Of course this year is different. But people still want a get-away, perhaps even more than ever. The perception is that it’s not safe to board an aircraft, that a cruise is risky. In fact, the cruise industry is largely shut down, and the airline...