Fantastic three days at @ReconveneLA, still my only CRE conference. I'll be back next year. Reflections as I kill time in the hotel lobby watching the beautiful LA people: - Own your niche. Big macro plays are fickle and when they're gone, generic operators die. The people doing deals right now are specialized, hungry, deal junkies. - Everyone is (obviously) trying to figure out AI, but today's edge is tomorrow's table stakes. It takes (and will take) a tremendous amount of time and resources to truly stay ahead. Choose that approach wisely. - The elephant in every room was rates. Most of us can't truly conceive of a world with rates as high as they might go, and those that lived through it speak so casually about "a 20% prime rate" that maybe (maybe), we'll be all right. But man, what if everyone is wrong. - Be curious. Perhaps the theme of the conference - the curious will always be ahead of the curve. - Was it really that easy? I love hearing how the old school guys did it - amazing story of buying a vacant 100,000sqft office building and "putting up a billboard." Was it really that easy? Why do we make it so hard? - My favorite talk was on American Reindustrialization (shout out @grant__gregory) - if their thesis is even part right its the brightest hope our country has. What's the real estate play? I'm skeptical TBH, not that money won't be made but whether it will be more than what's lost. - Where else do you get to listen to two crazy developers (highest compliment) talk about what it's like to be venture-backed or have robots carve you a stone, structural facade? Visionaries and I can't wait to see what they build. - If California has a shot, it's because of the people who, despite a million reasons not to, are still insanely passionate about building housing. When you meet them, you can't help but feel optimistic. - I don't come here looking for LPs, but I find them anyway (there's a lesson in there somewhere). - When you're surrounded by people who aren't afraid to try new things and maybe (probably?) fail, at some point your ideas just start flowing. Ingenuity is infectious. - My most memorable encounter had nothing to do with real estate - it was about silver belt buckles and black toenails (@kevinskiles - that second bottle was a great idea). - The most knowledgeable people in these rooms are also the most generous with their knowledge. We should all strive to be like them (@DallasAptGP) - Lastly and most importantly, these past few days made me appreciate the community of real estate people on this site. From @SideHustle_LP to @donkeyDdevelops and @EllliotttB (who are real people), to @robbiehendricks who I finally met IRL (sadly not at a Chili's), these are genuine people who come to this event to hang with their friends. Yeah, business gets done, but it's about the people. Huge props to @moseskagan and Simran for throwing an A+ event and not letting in any assholes!

The development at 1601 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco switches plans from 101 rentals to 98 condos. 18 of which are deemed affordable. More info below. houseberry.com/blog/1601-oce…

It's a scam. The kind of scam one should expect when policymakers try to fix a shortage with tax-subsidy and price-control gimmicks, rather than by liberalizing supply. 2/3

I find that learning how to use the tools through the process of learning the reasoning simply creates better professionals. It's like young people using AI with excel or to write memos. You can immediately tell if they've never actually done it before. The output is trash. Meanwhile, experienced people are using AI to do what they can do anyway, just doing it much faster. I am extremely skeptical that simply typing prompts is going to train better designers, with the sole exception of that advancement potentially allowing programs to prioritize hand drawing, which I'm convinced, is the ultimate training tool for designers of any kind.

What is wrong with Musk’s body? These images captured from the video of his recent visit to the spaceport site in Louisiana.

Rubicon Point Partners Buys 160-Unit Ansel Apartments in Hayes Valley for $98.3MM news.theregistrysf.com/rubic…

Had a similar set of thoughts this week To deal with it, I'm planning on making a massive pitcher of margaritas tonight. Seems like the right kind of medicine rn 😂