Category Archives for "Investing"

What is QSV, quick sale value. There is no generally accepted definition, but here is my attempt at defining it based on experience: QSV, quick sale value, is the price a property put on the market will trade at less seller administrative, legal and accounting charges, realtor fees and closing costs in a liquidation process […]

The Pit If you want your building interiors to be highly animated and increase collisionable hours, you could do (a lot) worse than copy the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism’s “pit” on the main floor of their building on Carleton University’s campus… What’s it used for? -speeches -parties -presentations -charettes -teaching -gatherings -random meetings/collisions -concerts […]

A cap rate or capitalization rate is found by dividing NOI, net operating income, by the cost of a property or its fair market value. Obviously, we can reverse the process–find property values if we know both NOI and the applicable market-dictated cap rate for that type of property. Let’s try this with some Bloomberg […]

You know what I’ve found? Getting clarity in your life matters (a lot). Here’s how I help people do that (feel free to pass this on): [I highlighted the big depression-fighters in my experience in bold]

Here’s an email I sent to a client of mine about the role of amortization in developing and financing a real estate portfolio “effortlessly” in a rinse and repeat/perpetual motion machine kind of way. See below. Chris, you are 100% right. No, actually, 1,000% right 😊 Here’s a case I looked at for clients of […]

Where buildings in North America meet grade, we tend to throw away its value. How’s that? Every time you open a building at grade to the outside, every time, you add both functionality and value. It’s easier to access apartments, condos, retirement residence suites/rooms, stores, offices co-working spaces, makerspaces, you name it and it makes […]

“You can’t drink all day, unless you start in the morning,” one middle-aged female fan of the Buffalo Bills told me at their home-opener on Sunday September 16th, 2018. It was 0930 at the time, proving her point. That the Bills are important to Buffalo seems self-evident to me. But after tailgating with over 100,000 […]

Law of unintended consequences It’s one thing for a city to allow secondary dwelling units (ie, basement apartments, in-home suites or coach houses in your backyard), it’s another to provide enough parking to get cars off streets, especially in northern shelf areas and the snow-belt. If you ban frontyard parking and second driveways, this is […]

It’s probably not where you think it is. Most observers would assume it’s downtown where all the office skyscrapers live. That may be where the highest price per square foot or square meter of land is traded but is it the most valuable? I would argue not. Huh?

I actually don’t like going away but, when I do, I find that things which were complicated suddenly aren’t. Here’s what I do to gain perspective: -exercise 4-6 times per week (20 minutes after I finish, problems miraculously “solve themselves”) -“move the furniture,” which means getting up from your desk and walking around—for example, when […]

Why do private sales often suck? Well, here’s an email I received from a client of mine (a significant and sophisticated) real estate investor explaining why this may be so: A neighbor of mine is elderly; he lost his wife a few years ago. She was a fine person. Having said this, however, I have […]

Is the best number of partners to have equal to 0? Is there a difference between a partner and an investor? Is a partner someone who wants a say in the business or joint venture while an investor is simply looking for a ROI, return on investment? L to R: Robin Chahal, Prof Bruce, Armin […]