The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

University enrolment fell by over 200,000 in the past year, marking the 6th straight year of decline. Overall, student enrolment in universities has fallen by 2.6 million students compared with 2011. That's a huge decline. If enrolment is falling, it stands to reason that demand for student housing will also decline. How to make sense of the numbers and decide where to invest?

Today we're talking about student housing. This is one of my favorite asset types. But not everyone feels that way. I share why I like it and what it takes to run a successful student housing portfolio.

CTV News reported that a large parcel in the East end of Ottawa will be site of a new 1M square foot warehouse. Sources close the project have confirmed off the record that the occupant will be Amazon. This is part of a growing strategy across North America for local fulfillment centers as Amazon strives to reduce their delivery times for Amazon Prime customers. The question is, how can you capitalize on this as a real estate investor? What opportunities does it create?

George was Mr. Trump's advisor and right hand man for many years. In today's episode he's sharing his perspective on what we're seeing in the news media. I’m sharing this with you to underscore how difficult it is to make sense of what is being reported in the news. I believe it’s important for everyone, including you to consume content critically. Ask yourself the question, why is the producer of the show sharing this content with me? I don’t know if George is correct in his perspective. I really have no idea. I just know that he has a different vantage point than I do. Enjoy...

Dave is the CEO of The Real Asset Investor. He's a real estate guy, but as the name implies, he also invests in multiple types of real assets. On today's show, we're talking about how he invests in ATM machines and why it made sense for him and his investors.

Warren Buffett famously said that he would go out and purchase a few hundred thousand single family homes if he had the ability to manage them. One company that took his advice was the Blackstone Group private equity firm. They aggressively went on a buying spree across the nation. The problem with buying is that you also need to sell in order to get your money out. Imagine the impact of dumping thousands of single family homes on the real estate market. But that's not what they did. Check it out.

Today’s episode is focused on property taxes. This is the principal method that cities use to collect revenue to fund the operation of the city for everything from police, fire department, road repairs, and community housing. But the assessed value is key to determining the revenue to city will received. The city can hide a tax increase by arbitrarily determining that your property is now worth more. If you feel that your property taxes have been unfairly assessed, there is a process for appealing the assessment.

Last month I visited Puerto Rico. We did a real estate investment tour as part of our visit. I’d like to share some of my observations from that visit. While the cleanup from hurricane Maria was largely complete in some areas, there was still plenty of evidence of storm damage. You didn’t need to look very far to find broken trees, broken fences, damaged roofs and smashed lamp posts. In 2012, Puerto Rico enacted several new tax incentives. The most famous are Act 20 and Act 22. I know several people who relocated to PR in search of tropical weather and the tax friendly environment. There certainly are properties that can be purchased at fire-sale prices. But that doesn't mean they're a bargain. Listen to find out the bottom line.

When you get a quote from a contractor, how do you know if it's a good price? Is it too high, too low? How do you even evaluate it? Today's episode is a specific case study on how to answer that specific question.

You've all seen them, the free evening seminar with a TV celebrity. They invite you to attend a 3 day bootcamp for a modest price. After that, they invite you to an advanced course or a coaching program that is priced in the thousands of dollars. These professional educators are in the education business, not the real estate investing business. If you really want to learn, who will you learn from?