Regular followers know we’re news hawks. We scour the headlines for clues about opportunities and threats facing real estate investors. We look at the good, the bad, the ugly … and consider things at the micro, macro, geo-political, and systemic level. Even though we watch a broad range of real estate niches … we tend […]
Headlines say real estate funds performing well … Read More »
A common adage is “treat your investing as a business”. Good advice! And at first blush, you might think it means … Figuring out your mission, vision, values … Establishing clearly defined goals and objectives … Developing strategies, tactics, processes, policies and procedures … Recruiting, training, and leading a team … Setting up communication and
SWOT are you worried about … Read More »
One of the primary purposes of easy money (“quantitative easing” or QE) is to inflate asset prices, bloat balance sheets, and create a wealth effect. The formula is simple. Print gobs of money, buy bonds to drop interest rates, and flood the markets with liquidity. Corporations borrow cheap money to buyback stocks … pushing stock
Protecting equity from bursting bubbles … Read More »
Ohhhh … there’s SO many directions we could go with that subject line … but let’s pick something both potentially polarizing and unifying … Income inequality. It’s a political cause and an economic reality. But we’re not here to talk politics. Because it doesn’t matter if we think it’s fair or not. We’ll leave that
Capitalizing on the American dumbbell … Read More »
We know a guy who bought a property with NO foundation. He didn’t know it because he paid cash … and with no lender forcing an inspection, he skipped it. Oops. He figured since the property had been in use for decades, everything was fine. But just because a building is standing, it doesn’t make
Better check that foundation … Read More »
This may be one of the most interesting times in economic history. The pace and amount of change is creating significant challenges and opportunities for both investors and entrepreneurs … not to mention policy makers. It’s fun to watch, hard to keep up with, and impossible to avoid. The changing future of money and wealth will affect everyone … believe it or not, like it or
STRONG economy, BUT …. Read More »
Interest rates are a big deal for real estate investors … for many reasons. The first and most obvious reason is because interest rates are the price of the money you borrow to invest with. Higher rates mean higher payments and less cash flow. Of course, even when you pay cash for your properties, your tenants
The future of interest rates … Read More »
Real estate investing scientists are avid researchers of the migratory patterns of Homo americanus.After all, population affects demand … and monitoring supply, demand, and capacity to pay is an important part of strategic geographic market selection. So we’re excited because it’s that time of year when all kinds of reports start coming out about the year
Where people are moving and why … Read More »
In a financialized economy, it’s easy to obsess over the dollar, Bitcoin, gold, forex, the Fed, interest rates, stock indexes, etc. Financialization is when an economy emphasizes making money from money … as opposed to making money from making things. Think of it as the difference between Wall Street and Main Street. But there’s currently a
Trickle down Trump-style … Read More »
Sometimes the most profound tidbits of wisdom are unexpectedly found in unlikely places. Here’s a great one we picked up along the way … “Most people figure it out … eventually. The GREAT ones figure it out EARLY.” We heard this during a casual conversation in the bleachers at a small college football game. The
High performance wisdom for the New Year … Read More »