The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

On today’s show we are talking about the design of a multi-unit building on a property that was originally designed for a single family home. There are many urban infill opportunities in major cities across North America. Earlier this week I was looking at a property for a consulting client that has the potential to be redeveloped from a single family home to a six unit apartment building. On today’s show I’m going to take you through the thinking of how we analyze this property to determine the basic feasibility. There are many aspects to this. There is the physical, can I get this to fit on the property in a reasonably cost effective manner. There is the financial where we analyze all of the financial levers in the project. We’re not going to talk about that today, we are just going to talk about the physical aspects of getting a project that complies with the zoning and will be sensible to build. ------------**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)  

On today’s show we are talking about air rights.  Air rights refer to the legal ability to control, lease, or sell the space above a property. Traditionally, property rights included not only the land and any buildings on it but also the air above and the ground below. The concept of air rights date back centuries and are ingrained in common law. The biggest change to air rights came with commercial aviation which put the ownership of the atomosphere in the public domain while preserving private ownership of the air immediately above a property for the enjoyment of the property owner. Exactly where private property rights transition to the public domain varies by location and by jurisdiction. -------------- **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)  

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.-------------**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)  

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.-------------**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)  

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?-----------**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)  

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.-------------**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)  

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. ------------**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)  

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. -------------**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)  

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-----------**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)  

Today we are talking about a piece of legislation in Florida that, if it ultimately becomes law, could reshape how property taxes are calculated across the state for decades to come. It is House Joint Resolution 203, often referred to as HJR 203, and it has just passed the Florida House. Now, first, a reminder, a joint resolution like this is not a typical statute change. It proposes a constitutional amendment. In Florida, that means voters ultimately decide, and it generally requires a 60 percent approval threshold on the ballot. So what does HJR 203 propose?The short version is that it would gradually expand the homestead exemption for non school property taxes by $100,000 per year for ten years beginning in 2027, and by 2037, it would fully exempt homestead property from non school ad valorem taxes. School district levies remain. So why does this matter to real estate investors, even investors who do not own homesteads?Because property taxes are not just a line item. They are a transfer system. If you change who is exempt, you change who must carry the load, or you change what services get funded, or both. And if you change the tax base, you can change market behavior.------------**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)  

I’m coming to you live from Sonoma California where I’ve been attending a small business mastermind event. Today we are talking about something that, on the surface, looks like agriculture and tourism, but underneath is a case study in economic gravity. This is the result of direct observation and conversation with people who are local to the market. Northern California wine country, Napa and Sonoma in particular, has an aura of permanence. Rolling hills, tasting rooms, hospitality, luxury brands, and a global reputation built over decades. When something has that much cultural momentum, people assume it is immune to basic supply and demand. It is not.Every business lives inside a box of four forces, supply, demand, capital cost and regulation. We’re not going to talk about capital cost today. When supply expands faster than demand, prices compress. When regulation rises, costs increase and flexibility disappears. When all three move against you at once, even great operators can find themselves trapped. --------------**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)  

On today’s show we are talking about the biggest obstacle to manufacturing in the US. When I was deeply involved in the tech industry as a microprocessor design engineer, there was a culture. It’s a culture that has turned out to be unhealthy and is one of the core reasons why we don’t have manufacturing in North America. There will continue to be announcements of new data centres, of manufacturing, and perhaps other major investments. The success of those initiatives is not about tariffs, or the real estate, or the tax incentives offered by the local government. It’s going to be about growing the talent pool of skills to gain critical mass in those geographic locations. Only then you will see the transformation of industrial activity in the country. That kind of brain trust is not developed in a week or a month. Where we have dozens of people with that deep expertise in a major city, you will find tens of thousands in Taiwan and China. ------------**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)  

Joseph lives in California and has a property in central Florida. The issue is a series of tenants causing damage and defaulting on their rent. Should I sell and cut my losses? -------------**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)  

Brett is based in Jacksonville Florida and specializes in reducing capital gains taxes. On today's show we are talking about substantial estate taxes that kick in above $15M in assets. Brett shares strategies for mitigating those taxes. To connect with Brett and to learn more visit capitalgainstaxsolutions.com. He also has a new book, available on Amazon called Building A Capital Gains Tax Exit Plan.-----------**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)  

Kelley is based in NYC and is the President of Rose Valley Management, an institutional firm with over 10,000 apartments in their portfolio nationwide. On today's show we are talking about how market dynamics have changed with the current over-supply in many primary markets. It involves adapting to market conditions to create a more competitive offer for existing tenants. To connect with Kelley, you can find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelley-brine-37a4525/or visit https://www.rosevalleymanagement.com/--------------**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)  

Today we’re talking about a phenomenon that’s showing up in land markets across North America, especially in regions being marketed as “next wave” data center corridors.There is real data center demand. No question. But there’s also a growing layer of speculative behavior that is creating noise, inflating expectations, and in some cases putting landowners at risk.Here’s what’s happening.A group of land speculators, often with no backing from an actual data center owner or operator, are putting large acreage under contract with the hope of reselling those contracts. They’re not buying the land to build. They’re trying to control the land long enough to flip the paper.In hot markets, controlling the asset is sometimes more valuable than owning it, at least for a short window. If you can tie up 200 acres near transmission lines and a proposed substation, you can market the contract like you’re bringing a “site” to the table, even when you have no real end user.-------------**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)  

You’ve heard me say it numerous times. Energy is the economy. If you don’t believe me, just look at Cuba. The country is being starved for oil and the country is unable to function. At first it was just the United States imposing sanctions on countries that it sees as violating international law. That includes Russia, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and certainly a few others. But those sanctions have been largely paper exercises involving money and financial instruments. It’s only when a physical blockade of oil tankers severed energy trade routes that we started to see a real tangible impact. Other countries have joined in and impounded vessels that were carrying sanctioned oil. When it comes to global oil prices, the usual metrics of supply and demand seem to rule the day. The measure surplus or shortage is based on inventories consisting of tank storage and “oil on the water” which is oil in the hold of a ship. But what about the dark fleet that doesn’t report its inventories? They are called “dark" because they turn off their AIS transponders which allows for position tracking. They participate in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers in international waters, and these ships frequently change country of registration to make tracking more difficult.That is how a “shipping problem” becomes an “oil price problem,” even when there is plenty of crude in the ground.An oil tanker crunch is coming. New ships are not being built fast enough and these older ships are going to be very difficult to bring back into good standing with the world’s major insurers. We could see a global oil shortage because of a shortage of insurable ships. --------------**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)  

I asked an AI tool to write a program for me from scratch. Let me be clear, I’ve never written a software program for MacOS. I have not read any of the documentation on where to start or how to do it. I asked Claude to create a game of tic-tac-toe. The AI tool did the entire job in less than 15 minutes. I now have a functioning game of tic-tac-toe on my computer. It cost only a few pennies to create it, far less than the $2-5 that it originally estimated. The true power of the process is that I got the AI to write the instructions for writing the software from a pretty vague set of specifications. It showed me that far more complex problems can be solved using this approach with only a few minutes of thought. This opens up the world of solutions that would have been unthinkable only a few months ago. These tools are collapsing the cost of writing software virtually down to zero. The large scale adoption of these approaches will change the world. It has already. -------------**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)  

Mainstream headlines are saying, “home sales have slowed.” And on the surface, that’s true. January’s existing-home sales number came in down 8.4% from December, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 3.91 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. But here’s the question I want to explore today. Did demand actually slow, or did unusually cold January weather interfere with the mechanics of completing transactions in a way that makes the data look worse than the underlying reality?Now before you leave, today’s podcast episode was an experiment. The podcast sounded like me, even to me. But it was not me. It was actually a synthesized version of my voice using artificial intelligence. This is the technology of Eleven Labs at work. I provided about 30 minutes of recorded audio from myself in order to train the AI to create a voice that sounds like me. I’d like feedback from you the listener. Drop me an email at victor@victorjm.com and let me know if you could tell it was not me. Maybe you thought it was actually me talking. Let me know that as well. I’d like to know either way. Let me be clear, I have no intention of stopping recording the podcast live. ---------------**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)  

There’s an article in the most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review making the rounds arguing that organizations are doing too many transformations, too often, and that constant change is damaging. The authors point to change fatigue, shaken confidence from customers and investors, and leadership teams spending more time “doing transformation” than building products, serving customers, and creating value. They even recommend getting off what they call the “transformation treadmill,” and instead building a system that senses change early and makes steady adjustments.No question, the diagnosis of change fatigue is real. If you’ve ever watched a company reorganize itself three times in two years, you know exactly what they mean. People stop believing anything is real. They wait it out. The organization learns helplessness. The best people leave. So yes, random change, change for optics, and change that is disconnected from a real business problem, that is destructive.But here’s where I want to rebut the conclusion.We are entering a period where the rate of change is not just high, it’s accelerating, and it’s being driven by artificial intelligence. And AI is not a productivity feature you bolt onto last year’s workflow. AI is a general-purpose capability that changes how work is performed, who performs it, what skills matter, and how decisions get made. Treating it like an “add-on” is the corporate equivalent of adding a turbocharger to a horse.--------------**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)