The challenges of converting old office buildings to residential apartments
by Zain Jaffer After the pandemic that caused many global workers to do their office work from home or remote locations using videoconferencing technologies like Zoom or Google Meet, many office space pundits predicted the death of the office space sector. Admittedly many office buildings around the world, particularly the older non ESG compliant 70s […]
Our major American cities should be paragons of beauty
by Zain Jaffer As a real estate investor, people expect me to love seeing the beauty of cities. Tall aesthetically pleasing skyscrapers that touch the sky as if to symbolize man’s aspirations and achievement. Beautiful parks that recharge families. Great shopping and restaurants to satiate our desires and epicurean passions. In reality everyone should love […]
Dangerous debt levels
by Zain Jaffer Recently in early 2024 Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the US is on “an unsustainable fiscal path.” He said that we are “borrowing from future generations.” Powell suggested that we need a serious adult talk about the way America spends money by creating debt over and above what it collects as […]
Inflation remains sticky
by Zain Jaffer The Fed reported in January 2024 that the previous month’s inflation rate climbed from 3.1% to 3.4%, which brings it farther from the target 2% inflation rate and was higher than forecasted. This is bad news for those who were expecting interest rate cuts in 2024, probably since they think that the […]
The Ten Year Treasury Bond
by Zain Jaffer Many investors carefully track the ten year US treasury bond yields (or rates) for many reasons. The US needs money to fund its expenditures, and if revenues from taxes and other sources is not enough, it needs to borrow money. The way it does that is to sell short term bills and […]
Swimming in Debt
by Zain Jaffer Most people these days who keep abreast of the business and political news have probably heard of the large $32T US government deficit that keeps growing daily. They’ve also heard as well that the Fed overnight lending rate went up from just above zero to now around 5.5% in a span of […]
Seller financing of real estate
by Zain Jaffer After a year of Fed rate hikes on the overnight lending rate, plus a credit rating downgrade of the US Government by Fitch Ratings, we can expect that the high interest rate regime will be with us for a while. When the Fed rate was just in the one percent range prior […]
Investing in a 224-Unit multifamily in Missouri
First published in Medium We recently purchased a 224-unit apartment complex in Springfield, Missouri called Sherwood Village Apartments. This 2003/2006 vintage sits on almost 5 acres of land and is expected to generate a 14% net IRR for our LPs. The acquisition was made via Blue Field Capital where I’m a General Partner. One of our specialties […]
Buying a house is a good investment
Buying a home is a good investment in general. That might seem obvious, but during uncertain times like these, that advice is sometimes worth repeating. Much has been written about how the commercial real estate market will be the next crisis to hit, assuming we make it through the situation with the banks, the high […]
Investing in the 128-Unit Oakwood Trails property in Omaha
We recently acquired a 128-unit apartment community in the stable and growing city of Omaha, Nebraska in the Midwest. The project is called ‘Oakwood Trails’ on a parcel size of 7.7 acres. We plan to increase rents organically by 10–15% in addition to renovating/upgrading the property to achieve a 30% return on cost. The investment is expected […]