Something I see in the LA market regularly - the Father/Son family investment duo.

Son does all the work identifying deals, negotiating terms, throwing out phrases like 'all cash' and 'quick close' etc.

Father shows up and completely blows up the deal.

I only had two interactions with the Seller of my first listing prior to her engaging - one phone call and one in-person meeting.

But leading up to that point, I probably left her about 25 voicemails.

She never answered the phone...not once.

Then one day, she calls me back…

I was recently surveying the LA office space market to see what was out there.

So I hit up my friend who is the listing broker on a Class-A highrise in Downtown LA.

30 seconds into the conversation, he says “Don’t come to Downtown.”

He told me that the amenity package in…

Investor #1's Acquisition Criteria

- 1960s Vintage or Newer
- 10+ Units
- Prefer 2 and 3 Bedroom floor plans
- Located in these 5 specific zip codes
- At least x% Cap Rate going-in
- 35%+ upside in rents
- ADU potential great but not a must

Investor #2's Acquisition Criteria

-…

There is a prominent LA apartment owner who owns 1,500 units with another 500 under development. His buildings are in utter disrepair & borderline uninhabitable. 20 deaths have occurred at just one of his properties, and he filed over 70 evictions in a 2 year span.

Yet this is…

Property managers are generally not incentivized to cooperate during a sale process when one of their fee-managed properties is being sold, particularly for their clients who only own 1 property. Many times, they end up losing the account to the Buyer's existing manager or…

It is incredible just how wide the gap has become between renting and owning in LA. I have friends who rent in prime areas, but are unwilling to sacrifice location on a purchase.

One pays $4,500/mo rent for a nice place in Weho. To purchase a modest home in the same area would…

I know a gal who makes 200K/year as an accountant and pays $1,400/month for a 2-Bedroom in West LA.

I also know a recent grad who makes 45K/year as an advertising coordinator and pays $1,950/month for a Studio - also in West LA.

Both have LA rent control to thank for this.

I interviewed a brokerage candidate the other day and the next day he sent me an incredible follow up thank you email. We met for lunch a week later and I mentioned what a great job ChatGPT did writing that follow up email for him. I was not wrong.

Truth be told, Moses has one of the most efficient and dialed-in physical due diligence processes that I have seen in the LA market.

I saw this for myself in 2017 when I was listing an apartment building in the Central LA area. It was a competitive deal and we were conducting…

Spoke with an owner of about 60 Units in South LA. We touched on a few of the headwinds facing today's market.

Rents Softening? Doesn't care. All of the properties are rent-controlled, the tenants are under market & have been there for years. Last vacancy was 4 years ago.…

In 2019, I sold this 6-Unit building in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles.  Charming 1930s construction, huge units & well located.  The Buyer significantly renovated the property with the intention of selling each unit to 6 separate Buyers, as a TIC deal (Tenants in Common).  This…

We just closed a 7 Property 94-Unit Portfolio located the LA submarkets of Mar Vista, Palms, Koreatown and Hollywood! 

All 1960s dingbat-style properties with heavy Capex needed and ~66% upside in rents from current to market. The portfolio traded at blended metrics of…

Checked out a few of the 350+ homes in Pasadena & El Sereno being auctioned by Caltrans currently.

They bought them in the 50s via eminent domain to extend the 710 Fwy to Pasadena, but never did.

Many have been vacant & boarded up for decades, but are still absolute stunners.

Good, bad or ugly - Here are the LA County 5+ unit multifamily sales stats for Q1 & Q2 YTD vs the same period last year, per data from CoStar.

565 Sales - Down 51.5%

$2.9B in Sales Volume - Down 64.1%

$287K Avg Price per Unit - Down 21.8%

4.5% Avg Cap Rate - Up 50 bps

LA Multifamily and it's not close.

Here's why:

- 25,000+ licensed RE agents in Los Angeles
- 425,000 + licensed RE agents in California
- Some LA multi owners report 3-5+ broker calls per day

LA may be the only market where you compete with 6 brokers for a 4-unit engagement.

There's an unscrupulous property manager in LA who was managing an unlevered property for an 80 year old owner bordering dementia.

Manager convinced her 2 buildings was better than 1.

Refi'd her existing building, purchased another & did not put her name on title. True story.

Driving up Fairfax Ave, I’m reminded why it’s my favorite street in LA. In a 4 mile stretch, you pass West Adams, Little Ethiopia, historic homes, iconic museums, The Grove, high-end restaurants, LA’s streetwear hub, & end in West Hollywood. Eclectic & amazing

I have made tens of thousands of cold calls to LA apartment owners over the years. To this day, the best interest generator which yields the most responses is: “Your building is on fire.”