The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Deciding When To Hire Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

On today’s show we are talking about staffing. We’re reading daily headlines of staffing cuts at companies across the economy. Just in the past week we’ve seen headlines of 1500 people let go at Spotify, 3000 at TD Bank, 1000 Track maintenance workers at Union Pacific Rail, 1200 at Broadcom in the SF Bay Area just to name a few.

The question is, how does a business owner know when is the right time to hire, and when is the right time to reduce the workforce? Money comes into a business in one of three ways:

Earned income
Residual income
Capital gains

Workforce reductions are among the hardest decisions for a business owner or a manager to make. But in truth, the hiring decision is almost equally difficult. Both decisions involve solving a problem.

In the case of hiring, chances are that the organization is stretched and having a hard time keeping up with the workload. Hiring can bring some relief to overworked people and both customer and employee satisfaction can improve with the right hires.

Mobile Home Park Investing with Derek Vickers Dec 03, 2023

Show notes

Derek Vickers is based in Orlando, Florida where he invests in mobile home parks in Florida and the Carolinas. On today's show, we're talking about how to create value in mobile home parks. New parks are not being permitted in many communities and a turn-around on existing parks can be a good affordable solution in the market.

You can connect with Derek at derekvickers885 on all of the social media platforms and check out his webinar on MHP investing at go.parkinvestingpro.com.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

Franchising with Greg Mohr Dec 03, 2023

Show notes

Greg Mohr is based in Lincoln Nebraska where he is a national franchising consultant, helping potential franchisees find the right business to undertake.

To learn more and to connect with Greg, visit franchisemaven.com

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

BOM - Never Split The Difference Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

“Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It" by Chris Voss is an insightful and practical guide to negotiation, drawing on the author's extensive experience as a former FBI hostage negotiator.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

Brown Is The New Green Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

The COP28 summit just got underway in Dubai, a region known for oil production. On today’s show we’re going to look at a recently published paper coauthored by Kelly Shue of Yale SOM and Samuel Hartzmark of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

This paper shows categorically that the penalties imposed on high polluting firms actually don’t have the desired effect and in many cases can be counter productive to the stated goal.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

How a $40 Tool Can Save Thousands Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

On today’s show we are talking about how a $40 tool can save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in energy costs. As real estate investors we often spend the bulk of our time in the relative sanitized environment of the office and spreadsheets. Your buildings are literally throwing money out the window.

Energy costs are a primary line item in your expenses for any investment property. Now some of you might be thinking that the cost of heating and cooling is being paid by the tenants and you don’t need to worry about the budget for your tenants.

Your focus as an investor should be on the bottom for your property, not getting caught up in the weeds of your tenants finances.

Now you could go out and hire an energy consultant who will come to your property with thousands of dollars of high priced thermal imaging equipment that will show you exactly where you are losing energy from your building. That is certainly one option.

You need to know where your building is losing energy. That means creating a map of where your building is leaking. You don’t need five decimal points of precision in those measurements.

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host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

Could Artificial Intelligence Threaten Democracy? Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

On today’s show, we are talking about one of the implications of artificial intelligence that is not being widely discussed in the main stream media.

There are billions of people in the world. Designing and tailoring products for individuals has been largely ignored as even a remote possibility. It takes far too much effort. To develop custom products for each individual on the planet. We have lived much of the past century with products that are designed for the masses. If you think about a standard bell curve, what in statistics is called a normal distribution, product developers, and product marketing have been aiming at the average, and try to remain within one standard deviation from the average.

When marketers send messages to their target demographic, they tend to put them into buckets. This is also true when it comes to trends in voting. What matters to the Christian voter, to the hispanic voter, the indigenous voter, the immigrant voter, the African American voter, and so on.

Increasingly AI can be used to create messages that are not tailored to a group, but tailored to an individual.

The question is, could AI be used to influence an election result?

Price Fixing in Real Estate Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

On today’s show we are looking at the result of a lawsuit that has been decades in the making. I’ve wondered for a long time why real estate commissions in the US have remained solidly anchored at 6% when in other markets real estate commissions seem to fluctuate much more widely. For example, where I live in Canada, it’s much more common in high priced markets like Toronto to see commission structures where the selling agent is charging 1%-1.5%, and the buyer agent who has a lot more work to do in many cases charging 2.5% for a total of 4% or 4.5%.

In most professions there are two separate industry bodies. The first is a professional association that acts on behalf of the members. The second is a quasi government body that serves to regulate the industry and to enforce the licensing requirements. They also serve to protect the public. You see this dual structure in most professions whether we are talking about doctors, lawyers, psychologists, and also real estate agents.

The body that represents real estate agents is an industry body in the US called the National Association of Realtors.

A Kansas City jury last month delivered a $1.8 billion verdict to home sellers in Missouri against the National Association of Realtors and several major brokerages, finding they had conspired to keep commission rates high.

New York Real Estate with Bob Knakal Nov 26, 2023

Show notes

Bob Knakal is a senior executive at JLL in New York City. On today's show we are talking about some of the challenges facing real estate in the New York market. JLL is a large national commercial brokerage and the New York team is truly expert at what they do. You can connect with Bob at bob.knakal@jll.com

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

Super Cycles with Chris Larsen Nov 25, 2023

Show notes

Chris Larsen is based in Asheville, North Carolina where he runs Next Level Income. On today's show we are talking about economic super-cycles. You can learn more or you can connect with Chris at nextlevelincome.com.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com

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