The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Latest Episodes:

A Second Brain Becomes Your Corporate Memory Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

Today I want to talk about the benefit of having an AI second brain in your real estate investing business.

This is a topic that’s getting more attention lately, and for good reason. There was a recent episode by Nate B. Jones on the idea of building a second brain with AI, and what I appreciate about the discussion is that it goes beyond simple productivity hacks. It gets to something much more fundamental. It gets to the importance of context.

If you want to make real use of AI in your investing business, context is everything.

The problem is that all of the AI tools are competing with each other and are essentially creating a walled garden. The work you perform in ChatGPT doesn’t transfer to perplexity or to gemini or to Claude. They’re all independent and yet some tools are better than others at performing specific functions.

The problem in most real estate businesses is not the lack of data. It’s the opposite. We have too much data, spread across too many systems, and almost none of it is connected in a meaningful way.

-------------

**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:**
Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)
iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)
Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)
LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)
YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)
Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)
**Y Street Capital:**
Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)
Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)

AI Mastermind in Sonoma Mar 08, 2026

Show notes

Today's show is a live talk that I gave a few weeks ago in Sonoma on how to use AI to gain leverage in your real estate investing business. I know we are talking a lot about AI on the podcast lately. We're doing so because it is so impactful on so many aspects of the business.

Enjoy....

-------------

Innovative Property Management with Chris Lento Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

Chris Lento is based in Boston, but he invests across the Southeast United States. On today's show we are talking about some of the approaches his team uses to improve resident retention when the market gets saturated with new supply.

To connect with Chris, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherlento/ or. at https://emcapitalgroup.com/

--------------

Reducing Construction Accounting Complexity Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

On today’s show we are talking about how to set up the accounting for a construction project. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it. But first.

Send an email to podcast@victorjm.com if you’d like to learn more about the Y Street Capital Storage Fund. Put the word storage in the subject line.

If you’ve been looking for a thoughtful way to invest in storage, the Y Street Capital Storage Fund may be worth your attention. The Fund is currently invested in four storage assets, with additional growth planned for 2026.

What I like about self-storage is its simplicity as a business and its resilience across a range of market conditions. When it’s operated with discipline, there is real potential to create value through better management, improved occupancy, and steady revenue growth.

For investors who want exposure to the sector without the concentration risk of a single asset, this Fund offers a more diversified approach.

This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. Any investment will be made only through the Fund’s offering documents, and only by verified accredited investors residing in the United States, in compliance with applicable securities laws. If you’d like to learn more then

On today’s show, we’re talking about something that sounds administrative on the surface, but in reality can make or break the financial control of a construction project. That is, how you choose your budget categories.

Most people think of a budget as a list of costs. Land, permits, concrete, framing, electrical, plumbing, finishes, done. But that’s not how a construction project behaves in real life. A construction budget is not simply a cost estimate. It is a control system. It is the framework that ties together invoicing, payment applications, loan draw requests, your banking records, your accounting system, and ultimately your reporting to investors and lenders.

If you choose your budget categories intelligently, reconciling all of that can be relatively straightforward. If you choose poorly, the administrative effort multiplies. Not a little, a lot.

-------------

Past Property Taxes Can Mislead You Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

Today we’re going to talk about a due diligence mistake that shows up in underwriting all the time, and it can be a silent killer of your cash flow. It’s the assumption that the existing property tax assessment, the number you see on the tax bill today, is a reliable input for your forward-looking pro forma. In some jurisdictions, it’s not.

In fact, in certain places the current tax bill is almost meaningless for a buyer, because the act of changing hands triggers a reassessment. And that reassessment is designed to “catch up” for years, sometimes decades, of artificially low increases under the prior owner.

If you don’t model that correctly, you can buy a property that looks like it has a healthy debt service coverage ratio, only to discover after closing that your taxes reset upward and your deal has a permanent drag on returns.

Let’s break down why this happens, where investors get fooled, and how to underwrite it the right way.

First, why can the existing tax bill be misleading?

Because property tax systems are not uniform.

In one jurisdiction, the assessed value may track market value closely and update frequently. In another, the assessed value might move slowly, or be capped, or lag reality for years. Some places have rules that limit annual assessment increases for existing owners, and then reset the assessment to near-market value on sale.

The seller might have held the asset for a long time. During that holding period, their assessed value increased at a limited rate, maybe one percent, two percent, or tied to inflation. Meanwhile, market values doubled.

So the seller is paying taxes on a value that’s anchored in the past.

You, as the buyer, are stepping into the present.

-------------

When A Tenant Violates The Law Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

Today we’re talking about an uncomfortable situation that every commercial property owner faces sooner or later.

Your tenant is operating their business, and they violate city bylaws or environmental regulations. It could be improper waste disposal, illegal dumping, grease trap violations, noise, odours, storage in fire lanes, unauthorized outdoor use, hazardous materials, unpermitted alterations, you name it.

And the question is, what is the owner responsible for, and what are you supposed to do when the tenant is not in compliance?

-----------

A River With No Destination Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Today I want to talk about learning AI, and why it’s fundamentally different from learning most other professional skills.

If you decide you want to become a doctor, you commit to a long, structured journey. Years of study, exams, residency, and then a licensing body tells the world, “Yes, this person meets the standard.” Same thing with engineering, law, accounting, IT security, even trades like electrical. You put in the reps, you cross the stage, you get the credential.

And yes, the world changes. Doctors have continuing education. Lawyers track case law. Engineers adapt to new codes. But the underlying framework, the language, the standards of practice, those evolve slowly enough that your investment in learning compounds over a career.

AI is different. In AI, what worked 90 days ago can be obsolete today. Not because the fundamentals changed, but because the toolset changed. The interface changed. The capabilities changed. The cost changed. The workflow changed. And the people around you, your competitors, your employees, your vendors, they are all adapting in real time. If you learned “the way” to do something with an AI model last quarter, there’s a decent chance you are already working off an outdated playbook.

So what does that mean if you’re serious about learning it?

It means you’re not learning a profession with a stable body of knowledge. You’re learning to operate inside a moving river.

-------------

Hundreds of Days On Dealer Lots Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

Today I want to talk about something that looks like it belongs in an auto industry newsletter, but it’s actually a leading indicator for the broader economy, and it matters for real estate investors.

Walk onto an auto dealer lot today and you’ll see a lot more sheet metal sitting still than you’re used to seeing. The lots look full, and in many cases, they are. But the more important metric is not “how many cars you see,” it’s how long they’re sitting there.

Cox Automotive reported that in January 2026 the U.S. market began February with inventory around 2.77 million units, and the key line was this, days’ supply jumped to 98, driven by a notably slower sales pace. When days’ supply rises, the story is simple, the vehicle is not moving, the consumer is hesitating.

And that jump happened fast. Cox noted days’ supply around 76 in the prior period, then up to 98 as sales slowed.

CarEdge tracks market day supply by vehicle, essentially how long it would take to sell existing listings at the current sales pace. In late winter 2026, some models are showing truly abnormal numbers, deep into the multiple hundreds of days.

The attached notes you provided list examples like the Dodge Charger around 406 days, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer around 463 days, and the Volkswagen ID.4 around 480 days of supply, which is beyond “slow,” that’s a demand breakdown at the price point. Even some Korean cars are showing huge inventory. The Hyundai Sonata has 201 days of inventory on dealer lots. The Hyundai Santa Crus has 222 days on dealer lots. The Buick Envision which incidentally is made in China has 267 days of inventory on dealer lots. The are more than a dozen models with over 200 days of inventory on dealer lots.

------------

BOM - Abundance by Ezra Klein Mar 01, 2026

Show notes

Today we’re looking at the book Abundance, by Ezra Klein, co-authored with Derek Thompson, published in 2025.

Ezra Klein is a writer and editor. He has a columnist and editor at The Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg. He’s written for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and appeared on Face the Nation, The Daily Show, PBS NewsHour, and many more. He has earned a reputation of being somewhat left wing in his views. There is a danger in type casting people. As you will see, much of what he talks about in his book could be considered part of the libertarian and Republican core beliefs.

In real estate, we live and die by the gap between what people need and what the market can deliver. When housing is scarce, rents rise, household formation slows, employers struggle to hire, and communities get brittle. Abundance is a book that argues the United States has not merely stumbled into scarcity, it has, in many ways, designed it. The authors’ central claim is that we’ve built layers of well-intentioned rules and processes that make it painfully hard to build housing, infrastructure, and clean energy at the scale we say we want.

-------------

Jay Morse at Shadow Stats Feb 28, 2026

Show notes

Shadow Stats, launched by John Williams is famous for exposing the distortions in the currently published official economic statistics. Each successive administration has tweaked the metrics with small adjustments that make the numbers look slightly better. Cumulatively, over time, the distortions are large. On today's show I'm speaking with Jay Morse, part of the core team at Shadow Stats live on location in Sonoma.

To connect with Jay and to learn more, email jaymorse.shadowstats@icloud.com or johnwilliams@shadowstats.com. The website is shadowstats.com

-----------

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected