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2020 Year End update

I don’t think there’s anyway of describing 2020 without it being an understatement.

Difficult, unprecedented, germy… there are plenty of adjectives that get us part of the way there.

From a real estate perspective, there was a lot of good, bad, and ugly.

Below are a few interesting news items from the past month, along with a recap of how 2020 looked for our business and what 2021 might have in store.

Noteworthy News

  • Mass Timber construction is gaining a foothold in more markets, including Boston. The cost to build n w housing has skyrocketed, primarily as a function of increased material, labor, and regulatory costs. For example, construction costs for a new single family home were 54.8% of the total sales price in 1998. In 2019, that number rose to 62% of the total sales price. While home prices have gone up over time, the cost of construction has gone up even faster. Innovative and sustainable techniques and materials such as Mass Timber should help ease this over time.
  • Multifamily developers are re-thinking the hotel-esque amenities rush and piloting more “self-serve” communities. The bet is that consumers will opt for reduced pricing / increased living space for more automated and centralized services, rather than fully staffed gyms, parking, front desk staff etc.
  • As consumers grow squirmish after a long year of travel restrictions, the appeal of owning a vacation home is soaring. Platforms like Airbnb and VRBO are also helping second-home owners subsidize their purchases by facilitating short-term rental options during times of non-use.

Gladstone Capital year-end summary

It’s been quite the year for Gladstone. Below is a month by month breakdown of our highlights and stumbles:

January: closed on the second Summer St. property, a vacant five-unit residential building in Concord, NH right next door to a six-unit building we bought in 2018.
This deal was an exercise in patience. I first got word of the building being for sale in early 2019, but  the off-market price was way too high. The property then went on the market, at the high price. About a year later and after the sellers had a few buyers back out, the price was reduced to a fair number.

This was my first vacant building purchase, which had its pros and cons.

Having no cash flow for a few months while we completed the unit rehabs put the pressure on, especially as COVID became scarier and scarier heading into the spring. Luckily, we were able to get all five units rehabbed and leased at market-rates by early May.

I also sold big4bound.com… a cash-flowing website I purchased and operated for the past 3 years. I wasn’t able to grow it enough, and found the return was no longer worth the headache. Once I found a buyer, I sold at a good price and funneled the proceeds into real estate activities.

March: went under contract for an 8 unit building on Hanover st in Manchester NH. The numbers looked good on the deal going in, but the looming risk of COVID was unsettling. Most of the units needed work, and the seller’s property manager did not do a great job of screening the existing tenants. I tried mitigating the risk by asking for additional work to be completed, and the vacant units filled up with tenants approved by my PM (bank was requiring at least seven units occupied by closing).

Unfortunately the sellers were also growing apprehensive, and they let the property slip out of contract to go with a cleaner backup offer without contingencies.

May: finished construction on our new house in Needham, which we bought in September 2019 and immediately started renovating. Did not forecast a global pandemic hitting right after we ripped off our dormer!

June: At long last, the modular “boxes” for the Spencer Flats condo development project with OnPoint were pieced together. It was the coolest day of construction I’ve ever seen – basically expensive adult legos.

August: Started my MBA part-time at Babson

September: Sold our Revere single family rental. All in all, probably not a great buy. We made decent money from this one, but it was a result of buying at a good price and riding the market up. We closed in December of 2018 with a 6 month lease back to the seller. We did minimum work to the house – mostly cleaning and painting, before leasing it out. The goal was to hold off on any major renovations until I had a better plan and firmed up quotes / numbers.

By the time the tenant was ready to move out and her lease was up, we were in full blown lockdown, my go-to contractor had moved up to Maine, and I was living too far away from the property to manage any significant work on my own. Luckily, the single family market was booming, so by mid-summer we made a plan to list the property and help the tenant find a new place to live. We received a great offer for the house, and closed without any issues. This one ended up working out, mostly due to luck, but it was not a great return on headache.

October: Sold our Revere duplex. We bought this building vacant in 2018 and completed a ~75% gut reno on both units, including new mechanicals and updated / separate electric. This was a rental for the past two years with excellent tenants. This year was a great selling opportunity, so we took advantage of the market and sold.

Also in October, the Spencer Flats model units officially went on the market, and the team is working hard to drive potential buyers to our open house while finishing the punch list and final inspections for the remaining units. The fall has been challenging for the Boston condo market. Many potential buyers are content to stay in their apartments or with family, as rents remain depressed and COVID reduces demand for city access and amenities.

November: my first crowd-funded investment exited. I invested as a Limited Partner into a value-add apartment community project in greater Columbus, Ohio through the Realty Shares platform (which went under and sold to iintoo). It was interesting to see how larger deal sponsors purchase, operate, and exit from these types of investments. The investment also earned a 21% annualized return – it’s always nice to actually get paid to learn.

December: officially went under contract on our first short-term rental, a small cabin near North Conway, NH. I will hold off on giving any more details to mitigate any jinxing risk, but this is a project that Jill is excited to take on and run with.

What I’m looking forward to in 2021

Household expansion: Jillian and I are excited to welcome baby Evans to the world this Spring!

Writing more: I’ve really enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you all this year, and am amazingly appreciative of all of the kinds notes, thoughts, and feedback you’ve sent. Next year, I’m hoping to expand my writing to longer format blog posts as well. If there’s anything specific you’d like me to research and write about, please let me know!

Small Business investing: just a teaser here for now, but I’m looking to invest in local home services businesses. We have something in the pipeline, and will hopefully be able to share more on this coming next year.

I hope you have an amazing holiday season and joyful end to 2020!

October 2020 Update

Here is your monthly “Gladstone Gazette” update – a quick summary of what I’m working on, learning about, and interested by in the world of real estate.

Noteworthy News
  • Yardi Matrix study of 17 million apartment units concluded that rents came down in expensive cities, and stayed flat / grew in more affordable cities. NYC, San Jose, and SF led the pack with rent declines in August (4-6% down), while Columbus and Sacramento led on growth (2% up). Despite softening rents, Boston Capital had no problem holding a $133M first close of its second multifamily fund.
  • According to Redfin, home prices hit a new record, reaching a national median of $320,625. In MA, I wanted to dig in to see how the growth looks in Single Family Homes vs. Condos. Based on year-to-date MLS data, median SFR sales price is up 9.4% vs. Oct. YTD 2019, while condo median sales price is up 6.3%. In Suffolk County (Greater Boston), the median condo sales price is up 2.4%.
  • As the MA eviction moratorium expires the week of the 19th, a 171m rental assistance plan will be put to the test. The Federal eviction moratorium is still in affect, so we will see how smoothly the rollout of this program goes and what the impact will be on tenants and landlords.
Gladstone Capital updates
  • We made another sale this month, a duplex we renovated and rented over the past two years. This was a really smooth transaction – not always the case when selling a tenanted building. The buyer wanted to live in the top floor unit and keep the existing tenant in the 1st floor unit. We worked with the upstairs tenant to find a new apartment, and he left with no pushback or hard feelings.
  • Spencer ave (Chelsea) with OnPoint is gearing up for our first open-house this weekend!

What I’m..

Listening to:  Why are Cities (Still) so Expensive from Freakonomics, featuring an insightful interview with San Francisco Mayor London Breed (who grew up in public housing).

Following: The Suffolk Downs redevelopment project. After three years of community engagement and over 450 community / stakeholder meetings… HYM development made it through a “marathon” 6 hour meeting to secure BPDA approval. I’ve been to several of the community meetings for this project, and am wildly impressed by how patiently and thoughtfully Tom O’Brien and the HYM team have incorporated community feedback into the project scope.

Thanks for reading and please give me feedback by responding to this e-mail. What do you want more or less of? Let me know!

Cheers,
James

P.S. if someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe here to get on our mailing list.

September 2020 update

Here is your monthly “Gladstone Gazette” update – a quick summary of what I’m working on, learning about, and interested by in the world of real estate.

Noteworthy News
Gladstone Capital updates
  • We made our first sale this year, taking advantage of the hot market for single family homes. This was a single family rental in Revere purchased in Dec. 2018. The real headache was working with the tenant to find a new apartment. We worked closely with her and the RAFT office to help her fund back rent, and with another local organization to help her with move in costs for her next apartment.
  • Spencer ave (Chelsea) with OnPoint is coming together. The mechanical connections were more challenging than expected, but the plaster and paint crews are starting soon and the building is coming out great! See some exterior progress shots at the bottom of the email.
  • Saratoga St (East Boston) also with OnPoint is weather tight and rough mechanicals are in progress. The framing contractor put together a great highlight video of the progress so far.

What I’m..

Listening to: The Real Estate Addicts podcast featuring Max and Garrett from OnPoint.  I’ve loved working with these guys for the past few years, and was great to hear the RE Addict guys facilitate their story.

Using: Tiller Money. It’s Mint.com but all in spreadsheets and with no ads. This probably isn’t for everyone… but if you want more flexibility and control over how you organize and track your personal finances, there’s nothing else like it.

Up to: A nomadic month. A family acquaintance had a three-week gap in between selling their house and buying a new house in our town and mentioned looking for a house to rent. We met and chatted with them and, on a whim, rented them our house out for the month. We bummed around from camping trips in NH, weekend rentals in VT, and parents houses during the week when not on vacation. What kind of complete lunatics spends a year rehabbing their house only to rent it out as soon as it’s finished? Us.

Thanks for reading and please give me feedback by responding to this e-mail. What do you want more or less of? Let me know!

Cheers,
James

P.S. if someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe here to get on our mailing list.

August 2020 update

Here is your monthly “Gladstone Gazette” update – a quick summary of what I’m working on, learning about, and interested by in the world of real estate.

Noteworthy News

Gladstone Capital updates

  • Spencer ave (Chelsea) is flying along. Mechanical connections are wrapping up by the end of August, and the floodgates will open to potential buyers starting mid-September. Broker open houses went great and we have armies of agents ready to send buyers through as soon as the units are patched and plastered.  
  • Saratoga St (East Boston) is flying along. The highlight so far is seeing how nice the rooftop view will be!

What I’m..

Waiting for: The next round of COVID stimulus. I understand the need to balance action and thoroughness… but I’m surprised there wasn’t at least a temporary extension on the bonus unemployment benefit. The loss of the $600/week bonus payments is expected to result in a 44% reduction of spending, according to the NBER. I was concerned about the bonus payments dampening incentives for people to get back to work (when jobs come back), but this WSJ article made me second guess that assumption.

Reading: “Why Real Estate Will Always Be More Desirable Than Stocks.” The Financial Samurai is one of my favorite personal finance blogs, and I’ve noticed a push towards more real estate related blogs over the past year or two. See also his 30/30/3 rule for buying your first (or next) home.

Surprised by: Apparently Blockbuster has a Twitter account? They came out of nowhere and tweeted for the first time since 2014. Why? The last remaining Blockbuster – located in Bend, Oregon –  is offering up three, one-night stays on Airbnb. Bananas. 

Thanks for reading and please give me feedback by responding to this e-mail. What do you want more or less of? Let me know! 

Cheers,
James

P.S. if someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe here to get on our mailing list.

July 2020 update

Hope your summer is going well and you’re taking some time to relax and enjoy the weather!

Here is your monthly “Gladstone Gazette” update – a quick summary of what I’m working on, learning about, and interested by in the world of real estate.

Some interesting news and data:

  • National rent collection tracked by the NMHC through July 13th was at 87.6%, down from 90.1% in July 2019. 
  • It’s crunch time for lawmakers to put together a second round of funding and stimulus as the $600/week CARES Act unemployment bonuses fade out at the end of July. 
  • Banks are “flying blind” into a potential credit storm. Lenders can’t tell who is creditworthy, so many are pulling back and tightening their lending criteria. I’ve heard this first hand for weeks from the lenders I talk to. Many smaller banks / credit unions are feeling the stress from PPP loans coupled with a waive of  forbearance and deferral requests.   
  • In Massachusetts, the introduction of the Housing Stability Act to cancel evictions and freeze rents was met with….err… apprehension from many landlords and lenders. The Mass Real Estate Law blog has an interesting summary of landlord concerns with the bill.

Gladstone Capital updates

  • By far the coolest day of construction I’ve ever seen was the set day for the Spencer Flats project with OnPoint Capital. The 60 second highlight video is a must-watch for an orchestra of adult legos.
  • Unfortunately, the sellers backed out of our 8 unit rental building acquisition in Manchester. While frustrating, I’d much rather lose out on a potentially good project than give up discipline with pricing and terms. On to the next one!

What I’m..

ReadingThe Week magazine. As much as I love twitter, there’s something refreshing about getting The Week delivered and reading a physical magazine with succinct recaps of what’s going on.

Finishing: after ten months of living through a gut rehab, our house is finally done (98%)! There’s still a few odds and ends left and we’ll always find new projects to take on, but for now the sounds of saws and drills have gone away. I’ll organize some before/after pictures for next month.

Watching: This webinar on Boston’s co-living climate. I always love hearing Benjie’s industry insights, and the co-living industry will be fascinating to see evolve post-COVID.

Thanks for reading and please give me feedback by responding to this e-mail. What do you want more or less of? Let me know! 

Cheers,
James

P.S.  subscribe here to get on our mailing list.