Real Estate Addicts

This week we're excited to be joined by our friend Adam Burns of Burns Realty & Investments. Adam is true entrepreneur who has built a successful and vertically integrated real estate business which aside from developing a large portfolio of apartments and condominiums also offers brokerage, property management and construction management (and Cannabis Distribution?). What does it take to make the leap from 3,6,9 units projects to 30, 60, 90 unit projects? Are reports of the death of real estate in the City greatly exaggerated? Adam's preferred mix of condos vs. apartments? How Adam raises capital for his projects. What it takes to find and attract family offices to participate in your deals. Give a listen & let us know what you think by rating/reviewing and sharing the episode! Also, check out Adam's new YouTube Series, "Bring It here: It"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW51aMgQswU

SHOW ME THE MONEY!! In this episode we talk about the most important ingredient in a development deal, cash. Brian & Doug from Finance Boston are "Capital Markets Advisors" (don't call them "debt brokers!"). We start with the basics like defining the capital stack, debt vs. equity and get down to the nitty gritty deal terms and concepts. It's easy to shop for the lowest possible interest rate but, we explore all the various other less obvious factors that you should be aware of when shopping for debt and equity. We cover some key metrics that lenders look for and discus why you might be missing opportunities and the best deals by going it alone without a "Capital Markets Advisor." Thanks as always for listening, rating, reviewing & sharing Real Estate Addicts with a Friend!

It might not be obvious but, landscape architecture (LA) plays a significant role in real estate development, especially during public process and project entitlement. Michael D'Angelo of MDLA is one of the best landscape architects in Boston and we are thrilled he could join us on the Pod. Topics covered include: LA's role on the development team and process, Trends in outdoor space for multifamily developers/office developers, overlap between civil design and landscape arch, value engineering considerations with landscape design and much more! We hope you get a chance to listen. Thank you for rating, reviewing and sharing!

In this episode Ray maintains his contrarian streak as we take a deep dive on interior finishes. Floating vanity or typical floor mounted vanity? Floors and then baseboard or baseboards and then floors? Conduction cooking vs gas cooking? Curbless showers? Countertop options? Window options? Casement vs Double Hung? Vinyl vs Fiberglass? Fiberglass vs Wood? Thank you for rating, reviewing and sharing the podcast!

This week the Real Estate Addicts introduce a new episode format called, "THIS OR THAT". Being a real estate developer is largely about evaluating tradeoffs and alternatives and making the best decision possible which is why this type of discussion is relevant to what we do everyday. Housewrap or Zip Wall? Engineered I-Joists or open web truss? Fiberglass vs. wood vs. vinyl windows. MDF cabinets vs plywood cabinets? New construction vs renovation? THANK YOU FOR SHARING THE PODCAST WITH A FRIEND AND FOR RATING & REVIEWING!

In this episode we are joined by our good friends Alex and Harrison of of Wollaston Real Estate of “Wolly Wednesday” YouTube fame. The conversation was fun, funny and interesting but, very candid and very real throughout. We talk about how Alex and Harrison became partners and got into the business, their model of buying and renovating buildings in emerging or gateway cities like Holyoke, how Alex and Harrison raise money. Alex shares how a few difficult deals early in their partnership set them back on their heels, what that was like, and how they’ve honored their word and climbed out ensuring all their investors capital was returned and how they’ve restored a strong footing towards success. Please give this one a listen and as always thank you for rating, reviewing and sharing!

Christopher Quinn, Partner at Apex Projects LLC, a high-end luxury residential custom home building company based out of New Canaan, CT joins us to talk construction. Chris shares his experience building some of the most bespoke homes in some of the nations wealthiest zip codes like Greenwich CT, Westchester NY & the Hamptons. Some of the topics we covered include typical build costs, building for fee versus spec development, typical fee structure for GC work in Chris’ market, managing the client/architect/contractor relationship, how to building a bowling alley & what is a pajama room?

Tyson Reynoso, Senior Director at King Street Properties joins the Pod to break down a complicated and seemingly recession proof sector within the real estate development space, Life Sciences. The news is flush with stories of the “Life Sciences Land Rush” and we dissect what that really means and cover such topics as, what are typical build costs to construct or renovate a life science facility? Once completed, what are the ranges of expected rents for these facilities? What are the key attributes that make for a successful retrofit of an existing building and why typical tall office towers are not ideal candidates? What is the range of project sizes within Life Sciences? What is the smallest viable lab development & could a small entrepreneur break into the space? If you enjoy this episode we’d be grateful if you could share it with a friend & leave us review on iTunes.

This week we are excited to be joined by Former Boston city councilor Josh Zakim who recently started a new nonprofit called Housing Forward-MA as well as Jenny Schuetz who is an expert in urban economics and housing policy and a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. Jenny walks us through a recent report from the Brookings Institute that she helped to author called, “Zoned Out Why Massachusetts Needs to Legalize Apartments Near Transit”. We discuss the current real estate market as well as land use regulation, housing prices, urban amenities, and neighborhood change. This was an interesting and thought-provoking conversation throughout! We’re grateful to Josh and Jenny for joining us and to all our listeners for sharing the Podcast with a friend.

This week we are joined by our good friend, Tim Roman of Imperial Kitchen and Bath. Tim founded the company back in 2012 in Edgewater, NJ and has rapidly grown servicing real estate developers and builders up and down the E Coast. We enjoyed diving into the weeds on the latest trends in cabinetry and kitchen design, typical cost ranges for new kitchen installs, trends towards smart and maintenance free kitchens, common pitfalls of natural finish / wood cabinets and how to save money without compromising quality when designing a kitchen. Finally, Tim helps clear up the age-old question, what exactly is “European Cabinetry” and why does every new listing description like to say they offer it?! It’s always a pleasure catching up with Tim and we know you’ll find his passion for the business obvious and inspiring. Follow Tim's work on IG @Imperialkb

This week we are thrilled to have Deborah Ryan of Deborah A. Ryan & Associates join the Addicts to discuss state and federal accessibility requirements. These sections of code are technical, they can be complicated, but they are incredibly important to understand. We discussed how developers can ensure compliance with accessibility requirements during the planning and design stage to avoid costly mistakes. We cover a number of specific topics including the differences between Group I and Group II units and when each unit type must be provided, the definition of a “Townhouse” and how that is changing, the process for filing variance applications and why you might need a CD burner before you can submit one. We personally learned a ton throughout recording this episode and we know you will too. Thanks for listening & for sharing the Podcast with a friend!

Ted Tye, Managing Partner & Co-Founder at National Development is back for another episode! The world has certainly changed since our first episode we recorded with Ted (in person) about a year ago and we discus what those changes mean in terms of the real estate market. In this episode we discus issues related to local politics and the upcoming mayoral race, we check in on what’s happening with land costs, construction costs as well as rents and sales. We touch on the lending environment, developers decisions to hire union or open shop labor and how that varies by region as well as the advent of “virtual community process” and we conclude with a really fun game of over-rated, under-rated or appropriately rated.

Our good friends, Garrett Hogan and Max Taylor, Principals of OnPoint Capital join the Pod this week to discuss their real estate development business. We talked through OnPoint's experience with modular construction, how they structure development deals with investors, their experiences with zoning approvals in the City of Boston and we got into detail talking about numbers for ground up, renovation and modular builds. We typically try to storyboard an episode but, this conversation seemed to just go in all kinds of directions and was fun and interesting throughout. Thanks for sharing the Podcast with a friend & we hope you enjoy!

This week Gaetano (Guy) Morello joins the RE Addicts to discuss his experience developing high end Condos in some of Boston’s most desirable and expensive neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, Back Bay and South End. Guy started out as a Real Estate Broker marketing luxury condo product in New York City and then transitioned his career back home to Boston where he joined his families business in real estate development. Guys firm, High Street Properties owns and manages about 200 units in and around Boston. We discus Guys approach to acquisitions, trade views on the current market and get into specific about what it takes to convert brownstones to luxury (dope?) condos.

Mike Joanis is a licensed professional fire protection engineer and code consultant. Mike has been a tremendous resource to the Real Estate Addicts as we’ve grown and navigated various design issues and worked with local building and fire officials and so we’re thrilled to have him on the Podcast. We start covering the basic like, When is fire suppression system needed? What are hydraulic calculations and FP narratives? What are the elements of a fire alarm system? A standpipe? When is a standpipe needed? Finally, we delve into the nitty gritty of NFPA 13 vs. NFPA 13R systems. Pros and cons of pump and tank systems & elements of a dry FP system.