The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 87 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Fifield: I manage a $50M workforce housing fund in Chicago
“So I have a workforce housing fund, right? It is not, It's a unique unicorn. It's a market rate, affordable fund that it caters to baristas, teachers. It follows the same algorithm as the mid-rise and the high-rise, and basically I was able to start it in Chic…”
Muller plans to give away all wealth instead of leaving an inheritance
“I've always said, like, you know, I, if I make a tremendous amount of wealth, I'm giving it all away. I'm not leaving it for my daughter's kids.”
Muller: I treat Hollywood stars like everyone else and never kiss ass
“I've always approached everyone those handsome men in Hollywood, you get the same attention as they get from me. You share the same son they do. I'm not impressed by them, you know, and I think that's why I'm, Friends with a lot of them because I don't kiss th…”
Muller: Raised $7M for VR from an energy investor
“And I did this with my VR. I raised, you know, seven million dollars to shoot VR with none from a guy who does LNG. Has never invested in anything remotely, entertainment or anything.”
Safferis: Bought Venice Beach house using $7,000 FHA loan
“I had like 7000 dollars from my father's... It was nothing, you know, and I took all that money and did a FHA loan. I bought the house.”
Morris: Brokerage spent up to $600k monthly on office rent
“Before we reduced our footprint, our, you know, monthly spend just on rent. I mean, it could be like five, 600,000 dollars just a month on rent.”
Johnson acquired a fourplex with $0 down using VA loan timing
“And so the way I had structured the deal is I closed With zero dollars cash in, right? Cause the VA loan. I closed on like the second of the month on purpose. We pushed escrow like three days. So I had like 59 days without having to make my first payment.”
Morris: Only invests in properties within driving distance
“First of all, I don't, I just, I don't invest in places that are so far away that I can't get there.”
Scordo: Vacation rentals are seeing a major shift toward same-day bookings
“I don't have any, as many bookings on the calendar as I did a year ago, but what has changed a lot in the last, I've noticed the last quarter or two, is a lot of last minute bookings. I had three day of bookings this summer, And I've never, I don't think I've …”
David Bailey's $510k West Hollywood building now grosses $200k annually
“And I 10 31 into a small apartment building in West Hollywood, which I still own to this day. And I paid 510,000 dollars for that property. And today the property gross is 200,000 a year. And it has no mortgage.”
David Bailey wrote off a $123,000 plumbing repipe in year one
“That plumbing bill of a 123,000, I'm writing all of it off in year one.”
Bailey: Recent acquisitions have 5.3% cap rates and 30% loss-to-lease
“So as an example, on the two buildings I recently purchased I think those were 5.3 cumulative cap rates, and we had a loss to lease of approximately 30%. That means I have 30% upside, and going in I have a 5.3% Cash flow.”
Adam O'Neill generated large returns selling entitled land to major homebuilders
“I sold to, you know, larger companies, you know, Shea Homes, KB Homes, D.R. Horton entitled projects brought them to full entitlements, not even building It's just entitled and sold them for multiples on my investment. And sometimes I did that by getting in lo…”
A fund invested $50M on the condition Adam O'Neill quit the LAPD
“They gave me a meeting, and long and short, they invested fifty million dollars into my idea, and with the caveat that I have to leave the police department, and which I did.”
Basile recently sold a difficult-to-acquire Kehinde Wiley artwork for $175,000
“The example I was going to talk about is I recently sold magnificent 175,000 dollar Kehinde Wiley, which is very difficult to get.”
Basile manages a Canadian fund pooling capital to buy $25K-$250K artworks
“I just started managing a fund out of Canada. Where they pool investor income in, and they put them towards different artworks of different calibers, artworks of 25,000, artworks of 250,000. And I'm managing that fund and so far it's doing really well”
Morris's $2.1M Santa Monica home dropped to $1.6M in 2008
“It was the house that I had in Santa Monica. I bought it in 2008. I bought it one minute before the market crashed. I paid two one for a dump of a house. I put a bunch of money down because I was being conservative. And, you know, six months later, it was wort…”
Morris sold a $2.1M Santa Monica home for $6.2M after 14 years
“Fast forward to three years ago you know, I was at a buy at two one. I put maybe, you know, seven, 800,000 dollars in carrying costs all, and, you know, maybe three million dollars, and I sold it three years ago for 6.2 million dollars.”
Morris: Santa Monica home lost $600k in value within six months
“And the house within six months after I bought it was probably worth about one and a half million dollars, which is an outsized hit. So it went from 2.1 to one and a half. I lost 600,000 dollars.”
Morris: Sold renovated Santa Monica house for $6.2M after $2.7M total basis
“So bought it for 2.1, went down in value. I put about five, let's say five, 600,000 dollars into it. So now maybe I'm into it for two, seven, but I also lived there for a long time and enjoyed it. Got a lot of tax write offs, a lot of I have good memories. It …”
Morris: Bought Joshua Tree property for $400k, renovated for $250k, valued at $700k
“Now, I didn't lose my shirt because I bought for 400, put two 50 into it, and now it's only worth 700 grand.”
Romanesco puts down 25% to finance overseas property purchases
“So we have purchased a few just free and clear and then otherwise we're putting down about 20, 20, 25, 25%. I think we had to put down 25% in order to get the financing.”
Romanesco caps foreign investment property purchase prices at 500,000
“Yeah, the properties, we're not going over 500,000.”
Romanesco executes a slow-roll live-in residential renovation strategy in LA
“We don't put ourselves in a position where we have to sell at any particular time. We can time things. And so we invest in something that we believe in, in a location that we like. We live there, we do the work, we maybe do addition, do whatever we need to get…”
Morris: Sold Santa Monica remodel with a hidden room above $6M
“We ended up selling the house at, you know, north of six million dollars, but in Santa Monica.”
Owen: First Condo Investment Lost $350 Monthly Before Selling For $220,000
“My mortgage is a 1450. So I was negative like three 50 a month. Yeah. That was my first investment. And I sold it two years later, I paid one 80 and I sold it for two 20.”
Owen: Buying a Million-Dollar Home Early Set Back Real Estate Investing
“And one of the biggest things that held me back earlier on, it was just the ego of like what I would buy after that first one, that instead of just, you know, continuing to get my hands dirty, like my next, I went from that deal to my million dollar house back…”
Morris Discloses Only Investing in Familiar Real Estate Markets, Primarily Pittsburgh
“So the other place that I invest only where I know. So I really only have investments in Pittsburgh, which is where I grew up.”
Morris: Over-investing cash once forced California tax payment plan
“One year I, you know, I had to call the California franchise tax board and put myself on a payment plan. And it wasn't because I hadn't made a bunch of money and it also wasn't because I'd blown a bunch of money.”
Fifield: Doubled Invested Capital Within a Year on First Six-Unit Property
“We built the garage, we rented the garage spaces, we renovated the units, we upped the rent, and lo and behold, a year later, we almost doubled our money.”
Ben Lee: First Investment Was a $50K Distressed Note in Law School
“The debtor, the owner owed her 90,000 dollars and my dad and she wanted out of it. So my dad said, Hey Ben, I think I could try to kind of make this deal for you. You're in law school. I think I can get a few for 50. And I was like, 90, wait, 50 for 90? That s…”
Morris Made $150,000 on First Real Estate Deal During Law School
“It was the first deal in real estate that I made money, and I got a check in my first year in law school for a 150 grand”
Ben Lee Deposited $606,000 from First Major Real Estate Flip
“My first big flip I deposited a 600,000 dollar check. 606,000 dollars.”
Chris Safferis hand-scrapes floors and remills reclaimed wood for his renovations
“Hardwood floors, I hand scrape them. I will drive to the end of the world to find something interesting that no one else has. I'll do used floors, and I'll remill them all, and I can't afford to do it, so I just do it myself.”
Safferis: Topanga Canyon home generated over 3x return in 15 years
“I've done three times, maybe a little better, in 15 years.”
Scordo: Over 80% of her Palm Springs vacation rentals book via Airbnb
“A really high percentage is Airbnb. And then as much, I would say, Oh, probably 80% or over.”
Stepp: Used cost segregation tax depreciation to fund new real estate acquisitions
“I mean, I did cost segregation on all our buildings and that was nice. Nice. Nice amount of change to go buy more real estate.”