The Future of Work and the Emergence of the “Neighborhood Clubhouse”
I’m beyond tired of hearing about the future of work. Every podcast, email newsletter, and blog has covered it ad nauseum for the past 18 months. The barrage of headlines, either in support of or against remote work, is adding fuel to the “debate” and forcing people to choose sides. Having said that, I’ve been so frustrated by the narrative, that I wanted to put my thoughts on the subject on the record. What’s great about this format is that it’s my bar and I’m the bartender. I can write about anything that piques my interest and have a record of my thinking. I can look back in 10 years...
Crypto – Changing how we work and live
Atlas is under construction on a 310-unit multifamily community in Nashville. Over the past few weeks, we’ve redesigned the common areas, eliminating vanity amenities like game rooms and adding more private office space. The pandemic combined with new technologies has accelerated the flexible work model and is giving rise to a whole new creative class of entrepreneurs. With this in mind, we believe there will be more residents working outside a traditional office so it’s critical to include functional and fully equipped private workspaces within new multifamily communities. The shift to...
The Best Amenity is Affordability
There is a lot of conversation within the multifamily real estate development community about the size and layout of unit types. For years, the average size of apartments was trending downward as developers favored density to achieve higher rents per square foot to make deals pencil. In a post-pandemic world where we anticipate more ‘work from anywhere’ including the home, the chatter is around increasing unit sizes. In my view, it’s not that straightforward. What I look at is affordability, functionality, and designing with a specific end user in mind. Here are a few of the topics I’m...
Weighing in on the Remote Work Argument
In a post I wrote back in April, the early days of the pandemic, I posited that many companies will ‘adopt a full or partial work from home schedule’ post-COVID. It’s now November, more than 8 months into the pandemic, and I’m more convinced that the way people work will be forever altered. This will shift the demand for office space and effect home and apartment design. We’ve been thinking about remote work all wrong and the current argument is lacking key points. First, let me paint you a picture; you’re working from your dining room table or spare bedroom, you have young kids running...
‘Co-Living meets #vanlife’
In my previous post, I discussed the concept of living-as-a-service, flexible housing models driven by technology which cater to young professionals who can work and live anywhere. The accelerated trend of remote work along with the growing passion economy is fueling these new housing models. While we’re seeing innovation within traditional housing models, we’re also seeing non-traditional housing models emerge such as Kibbo. Kibbo is a network of high-end RV parks which cater specifically to ‘remote-working, previously urban professionals (PUPs)’. For $1,000/mo. members get access to...
COVID-19 Impact on CRE: Accelerating Trends and Secular Shifts
There’s a lot of chatter and speculation in the commercial real estate community about what a post-Corona world will look like. Is business travel dead? Will consumers ever shop in malls again? Are we all going to be working remotely? Are people going to move out of cities and into the suburbs? Will we have to practice social distancing in restaurants and bars? What happens to gyms and fitness classes? Who knows. I think the world is going to look very different over the next few months, but we’ll eventually begin to act more and more like we did pre-Corona. It’s important to remember...
The Game has Changed: The Importance of Connecting with Residents
Direct to consumer brands (think Harry’s, Warby Parker, and Casper) have stolen market share from the incumbents. Their success isn’t because they have a slightly better product, it’s because they are obsessed with connecting with the customer. Real estate owners/operators can learn a lot from the success of digitally native DTC brands. In the apartment industry, there is little brand awareness and almost no brand loyalty, so residents are up for grabs. Owners who resonate with prospects, offer a great value, and cater to their lifestyle will ultimately win. I spend a disproportionate...
10 Multifamily Predictions for 2020
I hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed some quality time with friends and family. I was able to disconnect and spend a week in FL with my family. The time off is great, but I’m eager to get back to work and tackle the big initiatives and goals I have for the year ahead. In my first post of 2020, I want to make some predictions and point out the trends I see continuing within the multifamily space over the next 12 months. Here are my 10 multifamily predictions for 2020. The End of the ‘All White’ Kitchen: How many value-add projects do you see with the same ‘all-white’ look?...
The Key to Multifamily Asset Management: Controlling Costs and Creatively Adding Value
Every so often I scan through the real estate forum on Wall Street Oasis and I recently came across an interesting thread titled ‘Contrarian Thesis: Acquisitions is the Least Interesting Job in Real Estate’. The post argued that acquisitions is a repetitive job wrought with frustration and best-suited for young analysts who are hungry and proficient with the latest technology. Asset and portfolio management, on the other hand, tend to be the most valuable and interesting roles. The asset managers recognize the value-add upside, know what it cost to renovate, have intimate knowledge of...
Do We Need to Change the Way we Think About Homeownership?
My answer to the question posed in the title is ‘I have no idea’. However, I’m a firm believer that homeownership is not the best path for everyone and that the role of homeownership in the U.S. has been skewed in a way that is dangerous. The term ‘American Dream’ comes from James Truslow Adams ‘Epic of America’ who wrote in 1931, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with the opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” The original term didn’t have anything to do with real estate but has evolved over...
The Key to an Effective Value-Add Strategy: Hands-On Oversight
In my role at Atlas, I oversee our value-add multifamily strategy. We buy 1970’s – 1990’s class B value-add properties and seek assets that are priced below replacement cost and comparable sales, where we can add value at then property level, and that are in markets we like long-term. Adding value is hard. It requires a hands-on approach, local market knowledge, creative-thinking, and great management skills. At Atlas, we’re a lean team and hire 3rd parties to assist with property management, construction management, design and architecture, and marketing. As such, my role is largely...
5 Things I learned in 2018 and 5 Goals for 2019
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're able to unplug and enjoy quality time with family and friends. I find that time off, completely disconnected from the day-to-day grind of daily work is key to regaining focus and igniting the spark of creativity. 2018 was another productive year on ASotREG. I rolled out a site redesign (ASotREG 3.0), launched a new eBook on passive real estate investing, and published 14 new posts. I’m incredibly humbled and appreciative of everyone who has given me their attention. Your time is the most valuable asset you have, so it inspires me to do everything I...
Who Says Workforce Housing Can’t be Sexy
Historically, class B/C garden-style apartment communities have been typified by dated 70’s/80’s architecture, uninspiring interior design, lackluster landscaping, and boring commodity amenities. Recently, the divide between class A and class B/C apartment communities has been exacerbated by the amenity arms race, with each new development looking to outdo its competitors. It’s common for new communities to include golf simulators, meditation rooms, indoor self-cleaning dog parks, rooftop pool/lounges, and generally over-the-top design and features, while class B communities still have...
Integrating Data Across the Real Estate Life-Cycle
As the real estate industry becomes more institutionalized, there is greater demand for quality data. Data is the key to making informed decisions. Having a solid grasp of the current cap rates, financing markets, vacancy rates, rent growth projections, construction costs, population, employment, and income growth, are all critical to accurate deal underwriting and execution. However, most real estate professionals (myself included) only have access to select data-sources, providing limited data which may or may not be out-of-date. The data we maintain internally is unstructured and...
How to Win Marketed Multifamily Real Estate Deals
In real estate acquisitions, you seek the coveted off-market deals. These deals are more likely to be mis-priced, creating an attractive risk-return structure for operators with a track record for executing a specific investment strategy. However, fully-marketed deals can also be attractive opportunities. The challenge with marketed deals, however, is that you can spend a lot of time and money underwriting a deal, with no guarantee of being selected as the buyer. Contrary to common belief, the group that bids the most is not the group that necessarily wins fully marketed multifamily real...
How to Make Apartment Features and Amenities Sounds Sexy
We recently embarked on a project aimed at improving the online marketing process for all our multifamily properties. The intent was to greatly improve our web presence, access deeper analytics, build a multifamily brand, and control the process from the ownership-level. Since we utilize 3rd party property management, each asset utilized a different website template, property management software, paid search marketing strategy, lead tracking process etc. From the ownership side, we had little transparency into the effectiveness of each marketing channel and were unable to make data-driven...
The Many Futures of Urban Living
It’s no secret that most young professionals today prefer a 24/7 live/work/play environment. More than ever, talent is clustering in dense, urban areas. However, as jobs and people have moved back into cities in droves, urban housing has become too expensive for the average worker. As rental rates and housing prices in urban areas has skyrocketed, innovative real estate developers have stepped in to create more affordable living environments. We have micro-units, co-living, macro-living, temp living, and several technology platforms that support the new urban lifestyle. Let's dig in to...
The Real Estate Software Powering Our Growth: Featuring Dealpath
Over the past 7 years, Atlas has acquired 45 properties with a total deal value of ~$800M. Over that time, we’ve grown from 3 guys in a 100 SF shared office, to an integrated team with 5 operating platforms. It’s been a wild ride full of exciting expansion, but along with rapid growth comes growing pains. To continue to scale our acquisition process, we needed to put processes in place to efficiently manage investor reporting, asset management, acquisitions, and company operations. Luckily, real estate-specific software companies have sprung up to bring efficiency to all aspects of real...
Reflections from Japan
As I write this, I’m on my flight back from an incredible two-week trip around Japan. We spent our first day in Osaka before embarking on a three-day hike of the Kumano Kodo trail. From there, we spent a few nights exploring Kyoto and Hiroshima with day-trips to Wiyajima, Naoshima, and Takamatsu. We wrapped it up with three nights in Tokyo before flying back to NYC. It was a trip of a lifetime, filled with many eye-opening cultural experiences. Here are just a few of my many reflections from the visit. ‘Omotenashi’ Omotenashi is the spirt of Japanese...
Juniper Square: the Real Estate Investment Management System Designed to Scale
Over the past 7 years, the Atlas portfolio and investor network has grown exponentially. What started as an intimate group of friends and family, has ballooned to a robust network of 400+ individual high-net-worth investors. Over time, the administrative burden of managing 1,200+ investor positions across 30+ deals making quarterly distributions became overwhelming. Here’s what our quarterly reporting process looked like: Draft a 3-5 page quarterly summary for each deal in MS Word, plug in an income statement in Excel, convert the document to PDF, and email to each investor through...
My Thoughts on the Massive Impact Autonomous Cars Will Have on Real Estate
I still think autonomous cars will create more billionaires in real estate and retail than in tech or manufacturing. Just as cars did. — Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) August 29, 2016 Autonomous cars will be pervasive in the next 5-10 years. They will be safer and more efficient than human drivers and they’ll all be electronic. There’s no doubt autonomous cars are coming soon and the impact on the real estate industry will be massive. However, very few in the real estate industry is talking about it and even less are preparing for the impact it could have on their business. Over the past...
How Origin Investments Raised $10 Million of Equity in 1 Week: Part 2
In September, Ben Harris, head of investor relations for Origin Investments, shared the approach that enabled Origin to raise over $4M of capital online in a single week. Ben walked through the keys to building trust with investor’s online and aligning interest with investment partners. However, what resonated with me most, was Origin's focus on the ‘long game’. When investing in private real estate deals, investors are often making a 10-year commitment, and sometimes longer. With that time-horizon in mind, the integrity of the people you’re investing with far outweighs the fundamentals...
10 Federal: Embracing Technology to Outperform the Competition
One of the many great things about the real estate business is diversity of people and backgrounds. Throughout my series of Sponsor Features I’ve highlighted individuals who were born to be entrepreneurs and others worked at best-in-class institutions before going off on their own. The commonality, however, is their passion, resilience, and hunger to succeed. Brad Minsely, co-founder of 10 Federal, was born to be an entrepreneur; as a kid he bought candy in bulk and sold it individually at a mark-up, he then spent the first 13 years of his career at an entrepreneurial real estate firm. He...
How Origin Investments Raised $4 Million in Equity in 1 Week: Part 1
With the passing of the JOBs Act in 2013, private real estate investing has become much more accessible to accredited investors. This has led to the emergence of crowdfunding marketplaces and the ability for companies to generally solicit, enabling investors to connect directly with sponsors all over the country looking to raise money from retail investors. The new transparency in the private real estate syndication space, a business that was previously 100% relationship-based, has led to increased competition. Syndicators are now competing directly with each other for investment capital....
How Fairway America is Disrupting the Small Balance Real Estate Space
The most profound change to real estate over the past several decades is the institutionalization of the business, especially as it relates to finance. Real estate has become a Wall Street business. However, the sub-institutional space (sub-$10mm deals generally speaking) remains largely a localized business driven by personal relationships. This fragmented market provides outsized opportunities for operators who have an advantage in information/analysis and investors who have access to these direct investments through personal relationships. Real estate crowdfunding has opened up a few...
Real Estate Crowdfunding Opportunities for Investors Explained
Real estate crowdfunding provides investors with access to private real estate deals previously only available through personal relationships. This is game-changing for investors. However, it remains challenging for investors to understand which platforms and deals are the right fit for them based on their investment objectives. We’ve seen continued evolution with platforms like PeerStreet offering auto-investing and Acquire Real Estate taking a strict focus on institutional-quality deals and investing alongside the crowd. These platforms simplify the investing...
PeerStreet – Wealthfront meets E*Trade for Real Estate Investing
While real estate crowdfunding is still in its infancy, we're beginning to see new entrants introducing innovative models to the space. The biggest challenge early on has been the fact that investors typically don't have the expertise to analyze deals and assess risk, while understanding the legal and tax implications of direct equity real estate investment. Many platforms have shifted to investing in debt, which provides a higher level of safety, fixed return, and scalability. One of the platforms I'm most excited about is PeerStreet, best described as Wealthfront meets E*Trade for real...
Stage 3 Properties – Redefining Cosmopolitan Living for Urban Renters
I spend a lot of time showcasing real estate investment firms who have found success investing across the major food groups; multifamily, office, retail, and industrial. The entrepreneur’s career paths are in no way linear, but they often work with a best-in-class institutional real estate firm prior to venturing off on their own. Their investment strategy and execution is sound, but often not innovative. However, that’s not the only path to entrepreneurial success. Real estate is a business that rewards creativity, and professionals who come from more forward-thinking fields, and enter...
We Cannot Predict the Future, We can Only Prepare
I was on a real estate entrepreneurship panel at NYU Schack last week and was asked, "what can real estate companies do to prepare for a potential market correction?" While the real estate market has had a nice run over the past 6 years, there looms concern over rising interest rates, increased construction, and an over-supply of capital chasing too few deals. At Atlas, our new deal pipeline is slower today than it’s been over the previous 5 years. This slowdown has allowed us to step back and analyze our portfolio on a deal-by-deal basis. While we are not market prognosticators, we like...
Drones for Real Estate Use is Taking Off
Everywhere you look, you hear about how drones are being utilized in the real estate and construction industries. Over the summer, my brother-in-law and I played around with a drone (he flew, I watched), capturing aerial footage of the Jersey Shore, action water sports of siblings and cousins, and testing out the best way to shoot real estate sites. Drones have become mainstream and while some real estate firms view their use of drones as innovative today, it’ll simply be the status quo within the next few years. Drones are relatively cheap and easy to fly and the gimbal combined with...
Why I’m Concerned About Real Estate Crowdfunding
Real estate crowdfunding is disrupting real estate finance by moving real estate capital raising online and making it open to everyone, thus disintermediating the middlemen. While I’m a huge advocate of real estate crowdfunding, (having said that) I’m really concerned about the space in the near-term. Financial technology (fintech) start-ups are hot and it’s relatively easy to raise capital. However, we are in a high valuation environment for quick growth fintech companies due to the low interest rate environment, availability of capital, and the attractiveness of the fintech space. Real...
10 Questions Crowdfunding Investors Should Ask Before Investing
Real estate crowdfunding regulation has brought the world of private real estate online and opened it up to everyone. While this fragmented investment space is slowly becoming more transparent, it’s still challenging for non-real estate professionals to make informed investment decisions. In an earlier post I shared my real estate crowdfunding investor checklist, highlighting the important aspects of a deal investors should be aware of such as return sensitivities, terms of deal, economic structure, tax implications etc. While the intricacies, structure, and term of the investment are...
Top 100 Commercial Real Estate Company Websites
When working on the redesign of the Atlas Real Estate Partners website, I personally reviewed 1,000’s of real estate company sites and pulled elements from what I thought to be the best in terms of design, functionality, innovation, and branding. Through this process I learned that real estate firms generally don’t care about branding and it’s apparent in their company web design and general online presence. However, there are a number of firms who are pushing the envelope, learning from their counterparts in more innovative niches, and understand the importance of creating a strong brand...
The Real Estate Business is Evolving. Take Advantage of it!
If you were a real estate professional in the 1970’s and spent the last 40 years asleep, you wouldn’t recognize the real estate business as it is today. Real estate used to be a local business where most of the buildings were owned by families. Personal relationships and asymmetries of information provided massive opportunities for smart real estate professionals who were “in the know”. However, back then there was almost no transparency about rental or leasing activity, sales prices, who was getting loans and at what rates. The only way you knew that information was based on your own...
NeWell: Rethinking Apartment Design
I always tell people that one of the great aspects of the real estate business is that people who can think creatively, do things a bit differently, and have the talent to execute, can be very successful. Over the past 5 years I've been following the work of Alex Hodara, Vin Vomero, and Jeffrey Zucker, a couple of young guys in Boston making moves. From their reality TV show and brokerage business to their fledgling development company, these guys epitomize what's great about the real estate business. Every time I catch up with these guys they seem to be working on something new and...
CrowdStreet – Investing in Real Estate Simply
The real estate community can't seem to get enough of real estate crowdfunding; endless media coverage, conferences, and general chatter professionals. It's all for good reason, crowdfunding is going to disrupt both the equity and debt sides of the business. I caught up with Darren Powderly, founder of CrowdStreet, a leading real estate equity crowdfunding platform. Darren is in the trenches everyday which makes him the perfect person to provide a simple overview of real estate crowdfunding today, and discuss the challenges, opportunities, and where it's going in the future. Take it away...
Take a Breather – Private Office Space When You Need It
One of my favorite aspects of the real estate business is the continued innovation in how physical space is used. Technological advances have allowed these innovations to scale and opened up a plethora of other opportunities to disrupt the traditionally stodgy real estate business. A few weeks ago Atlas was transitioning to a new office so I spent a couple days working out of my apartment. Working remotely typically isn’t a problem, in fact working on my time in locations of my choosing is often how I’m most productive. I was sitting on my back patio one morning when I got a call from an...
Want to Thrive in Real Estate? Think Differently
There’s a common sentiment among real estate professionals that as the real estate business becomes more institutionalized and efficient, there will be less quality buying opportunities (mispricings). While the availability of high quality data and a move toward a national MLS will lead to more efficient pricing, there are endless opportunities for creative real estate professionals who think differently and take advantage of disruptions in the business. Here are just a few of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately: Branded Single-Family Rentals The emergence of networks like...
The Best Way to Learn the Real Estate Business
Over the past few days I’ve met with a number of guys in their mid to late twenties who've been in high-paying finance jobs, but have the desire to transition into the real estate business. The most common question I get from them is how to learn the fundamentals of the real estate business and acquire the skills typically only obtained by on-the-job experience. Answer, crowdfunding. Start by signing up for RealtyShares, RealCrowd, Realty Mogul, Fundrise etc. Crowdfunding sites consist of networks of high-quality sponsors pitching all types of deals to HNW investors. Here's what you can...
Opportunity Space: Unlocking the Value of Public Land and Buildings
This is a bit longer than my typical posts, but it's a worthwhile read, trust me. You know that prime piece of property in your neighborhood that for some unknown reason has remained vacant or under-used? Chances are you own it. Well, not you, exactly, but your government. And what if I told you that your government—the largest property owner in the country—might not have any idea that they own it? Unfortunately, this scenario happens far too often. According to a January 11th article in The Economist, “data collection on public property is shockingly poor.” Even if they were aware,...
Floored: The Future of Real Estate Marketing and Leasing
A few weeks ago I got to swing by the headquarters of Floored, a company that creates fully interactive models of real space. While there, I demo'd some of the new technology they’re working on including user-controlled virtual tours. I was blown away. As I sat in their Soho office, I was able to virtually navigate the top floor of the 1 World Trade Center in high-def quality. There's no question that this is the future of real estate leasing and marketing (along with many other applications), and it's not far from being mainstream. I was so impressed with their work that asked Floored...
Valuate – Commercial Real Estate Financial Analysis, Levered
In real estate, we often do things because that’s just the way it’s done. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best or most efficient way to do things. Evolving technology and greater acceptance of tech solutions among the real estate community has created a flurry of new products. One space which hasn’t evolved much over the past few years is asset valuation. I often spend hours in excel just to determine if a deal is worth digging in to. There’s got to be a better way! Bruce Kirsch, the visionary behind REFM, is currently overseeing the alpha release of a new investment analysis software...
Realty Mogul: The Future of Real Estate Investing
This week I had the opportunity to catch up with Jilliene Helman, the visionary behind the real estate crowdfunding site, Realty Mogul. While the sharing economy has exploded for tangible goods, the sharing of capital is a relatively new concept. We’ve seen peer-to-peer lending sites such as Lending Club grow rapidly, however crowdfunding for real estate is just emerging. Although we’re still very early in the game, I believe the time is right to disrupt the real estate investment landscape. Investors are comfortable with the internet, they’re willing to try new things, and companies like...
Floored by Real Estate Innovation
Real estate is generally considered a late adopting business full of dinosaurs who don’t embrace new technologies. While widely true (ok, almost entirely true), it certainly didn’t feel that way at Art Assets event highlighting real estate innovation. The event featured Riggs Kubiak of Honest Buildings, Ben Miller of Fundrise, and David Eisenberg, founder of Floored, a revolutionary 3D mapping program. While Ben and Riggs are real estate practitioners who saw inefficiency in the business and set out to improve it, David is a non-real estate guy who’s shaking up the business. Jason...
42 Floors: Making NYC Office Search Simple (and Beautiful)
Over the summer my firm expanded into our own headquarters. Being in the real estate business, we decided to undertake the entire process ourselves; who needs a broker to find space? Build out, we can handle that. Interior design, no problem. Fast forward 8 months and we’re finally putting the final touches on the interior design and layout. In that time, we toured more than 15 spaces, dealt with construction delays, managed unresponsive subs, and browsed countless blogs for interior design inspiration. Now there’s a service that simplifies the entire process. Recently launched in NYC, 42...
Compstak – A Marketplace for CRE Lease Comps
Throughout my brief career in commercial real estate, I've seen a lot of innovation. From 3D mapping, mobile, and retail tech, to the data space, tech-related start-ups are proliferating. I was lucky enough to be part of a test group for Compstak, a new crowd-sourced database of lease comparables launching in New York City. Compstak is destined to be a game-changer and one of the founders was nice enough to take the time to sit down and answer a few questions. Enter Mike: Like many great start-ups, the idea behind CompStak came to you from an inefficiency you noticed in the market while...