The Real Estate Espresso Podcast

Osad

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  Live Talk - Land Development Pitfalls 26.09.2026 22min

  On today's show I'm sharing a segment of the Land Development Mastermind hosted by Brandon Cobb. We're touching on a subset of the top 10 land development pitfalls. -----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Should I Wait For The Midterms? 26.09.2026 5min

  On today’s episode, we are tackling a question that is front and center for almost every capital allocator, developer, and buy-and-hold investor right now: Should you freeze your major investment decisions until after the upcoming U.S. midterm elections?When you turn on the news, the message seems clear: danger ahead. The equity markets get jittery. Bond yields swing unpredictably, taking mortgage interest rates along for the ride. Capital providers start tightening their underwriting standards, and institutional money pauses to see which way the political wind is blowing.In times like this, the natural human instinct is risk aversion. Many investors decide to step back, lock their cash in treasuries or high-yield savings, and say, 'I’m just going to wait until the dust settles before making my next acquisition.'Some will. In fact, many will.But today, I want to challenge that line of thinking. Is waiting for election clarity actually a prudent risk-management strategy, or is it just market timing in disguise?The illusion of 'waiting for clarity' assumes that after the election, certainty will magically return to the market. But historically, does it? If one party wins a narrow majority, you might see months of lawsuits, recounts, or legislative standoffs. If power shifts, you face potential shifts in tax law, capital gains treatment, or environmental regulations. If power remains divided, you get gridlock—which, ironically, Wall Street often likes because it prevents radical policy shifts, but it also means long-standing issues like housing affordability and infrastructure funding go unaddressed.Clarity is a mirage. If you wait for complete political and economic clarity before deploying capital, you will be waiting forever.----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Outsource or Vertical Integration? 25.09.2026 5min

  If you look back through the history of modern business, you’ll notice a distinct pendulum swing. There are eras where vertical integration is the ultimate gold standard, and there are eras where asset-light outsourcing is the only way to survive.So, where does real estate fit into this pendulum swing? And more importantly, as a real estate business owner, should you be building everything on your own, or should you be outsourcing everything but the core strategy?-----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Another Law Struck Down By Supreme Court 24.09.2026 7min

  On today’s show we’re going to talk about a Washington Supreme Court decision that, on the surface, is about natural gas.But I think the much more interesting story is what this ruling could mean for the way laws are written, and by extension, for real estate investors trying to understand the rules under which they are making long-term investment decisions.The case is called Climate Solutions versus State of Washington. On September 17, the Washington Supreme Court struck down Initiative 2066, a ballot initiative that Washington voters had approved in 2024. The initiative was broadly aimed at protecting access to natural gas and limiting government policies that would discourage its use.But the court did not strike it down because of the merits of natural gas policy.It struck it down because of the way the initiative was constructed.Washington’s Constitution contains a remarkably simple sentence. Article II, Section 19 says:“No bill shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.” Historically, courts have allowed fairly broad legislation. A bill dealing with transportation, for example, can obviously contain provisions governing roads, transit, bridges and funding.But the Washington court emphasized that it is not enough for every provision merely to relate to some enormously broad title.There must be what the court calls vertical rational unity — the provisions have to relate to the overall subject of the legislation.But there must also be horizontal rational unity. In other words, the provisions need to relate meaningfully to each other.43 states have similar single subject provisions in their constitution. So this is not just a Washington issue. This ruling will likely be cited in other jurisdictions. ------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Multifamily From The Curb Appeal? 23.09.2026 5min

  When I first started investing in real estate, I was taught a very simple technique.Drive the neighborhoods. Look for the houses where the lawn is overgrown, the gutters are falling off, the paint is peeling, and the maintenance has clearly been deferred.The year was 2010. We were in the middle of the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, and hundreds of thousands of homeowners were in financial distress. Sometimes the first evidence of trouble was not in a foreclosure filing. It was visible from the street.I think we need to start applying that same thinking to multifamily.One of our team members recently visited a relatively new Class A apartment complex in Pflugerville, Texas. There were plenty of cars in the parking lot. This was not some abandoned property.But the property wasn't showing like Class A.The landscaping was neglected. Cleanliness was below what you would expect from a relatively new luxury property. There were visible signs of deferred maintenance.The question is, what does that tell us?----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Too Old For News. Too New For History 21.09.2026 5min

  On August 2, I published an interview with Dr. Anas Alhajji on this podcast. Dr. Alhajji is an energy economist, and during our conversation one thing was clear: a shortage of oil tankers was coming, and it was going to ripple through the global energy supply chain.That was the story in early August for anyone who was paying attention.Now it's mid-September, and this is a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal.Let me be clear: I'm not criticizing the Journal. It's a great newspaper. But look at the timeline. The information was available. The analysis was available. The mechanism was understood. And it took roughly six weeks for the story to cross the threshold from "specialists are discussing this" to "this is headline news."That gap is the subject of today's episode.-------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  The Broken Environment with Mark Shuler 21.09.2026 19min

  Mark Shuler is based in Seattle, Washington. He currently has over 4,000 apartments in his portfolio, largely in Texas. On today's show we are talking about the irrational exuberance of the past few years and the reckoning that is taking place in the market. To connect with Mark you can visit is architecture peactice at https://www.shulerarchitecture.com/ or his investment firm at https://sgreinvestments.com/.--------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  New Retail with Tim Dowling 20.09.2026 14min

  Tim Dowling is. based in Austin Texas. He is building a shopping center in a suburb of Austin along the I-35 corridor. On today's show we are talking about what is driving the demand and the design of the project. To connect with Tim, reach out to him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dowlingtim/ or at https://budacapitalpartners.com/-------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Supreme Court Squashes Referendum 18.09.2026 5min

  If you’ve been in the development game for more than five minutes, you know the scenario. You find a parcel. You spend eighteen months and hundreds of thousands of dollars on environmental studies, traffic impact analyses, civil engineering, and public hearings. You work tirelessly with the city planning staff, you follow the local comprehensive plan to the letter, and finally—finally—the city council approves your Planned Unit Development, or PUD.You pop the champagne. You start pulling permits.And then, two weeks later, you get the notice. A group of local activists who don't want seeing new construction near their backyards have organized a petition drive. They’ve gathered enough signatures to trigger a public referendum to overturn your project's zoning approval on the next municipal ballot.Suddenly, your multi-million-dollar project, your capital stack, and your entire timeline are held hostage by a local popularity contest.Here’s what happened. A project involved a site-specific Planned Unit Development in Telluride, Colorado. The land was designated for a specific site plan, including an element aimed at addressing local workforce housing—a major need in mountain resort communities.When the local authority moved forward with approving the site-specific modifications to the PUD agreement, opponents organized a petition drive. They sought to use direct democracy—a citizen referendum—to amend or repeal the PUD agreement directly on the ballot.The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court. And the Court came back with a decisive, unanimous answer: No. You cannot use a ballot initiative or public referendum to overturn an administrative land-use approval.-----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Mega Answer to Bonus Depreciation 17.09.2026 5min

  Today’s show is sponsored by the Cost Segregation Guys. To save on taxes, visit the Cost Segregation Guys and learn how they can reduce your taxes. ------------When the media talks about a trade war, the discussion usually focuses on tariffs.The United States puts a tariff on Canadian steel. Canada responds with a tariff on American products. Then economists calculate how much prices might rise and which industries are going to be hurt.But tariffs are only one weapon in a trade war. There is another form of competition taking place that gets far less attention, and it may ultimately have a much larger impact on where companies decide to invest.Yesterday, the Canadian government announced what it calls the Productivity Mega Deduction. The proposal would allow businesses to immediately expense a much broader range of capital investments acquired after September 15 of this year.Instead of buying a piece of equipment and depreciating it gradually over many years, businesses could deduct the entire qualifying investment immediately.The United States has long had an advantage in this area through bonus depreciation.Canada is now effectively responding with its own version.-----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  The Fed Didn't Influence Your Decision 17.09.2026 6min

  Today is Fed rate day. This afternoon Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced a unanimous decision to increase the Fed funds rate by 0.25%. Today we’re going look deeper into the bond market functioning and not focus on the Fed. But the real question is whether the Fed leads the market, or whether the market has in fact determined interest rates independently of any committee decision. Was the Fed announcement merely a reflection of what the market has already been saying for weeks?You see bond yields are determined by the laws of supply and demand, combined with a risk premium layered on top of the coupon rate.The simplest explanation for bond yield and discounting the bond price is to ask each of you listening to this podcast for your own personal decision when presented with a bond offer. Let’s imaging for a moment that the coupon rate on a 10 year bond is 5%. That is the rate to maturity. But now let’s say that inflation is running at zero percent per year. That 5% face value on the bond is real income that is coming to you each and every year for that 10 year period. At the end of 10 years you get the final year of interest along with the full face value of the bond. That’s the ideal scenario that every investor would want. But now let’s imaging a different scenario. Let’s imagine that inflation is running at 4% and the bond has a face value of 5%. The simple math says that your yield is only 1% above the face value of the bond. So while the bond says 5%, the currency is being devalued by 4% leaving a difference of 1%. That might not be so attractive. So instead, you decide you’re going to offer to buy the bond at a discount in order to compensate for the fact that the bond is only giving you a yield that is 1% above inflation. You will notice that the Fed’s opinion of interest rates didn’t come into the conversation for your personal investment. You are merely making a decision about what rate you want the bond to yield in order to meet your investment criteria. ------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Free Help For Builders With New DOE Program 16.09.2026 5min

  On September 11, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a new initiative called Building America New Construction Support program.The stated goal is pretty simple.Help builders build faster, reduce costs, and deliver lower-cost, higher-quality buildings.The program is available to residential, commercial, and industrial builders, and it connects participants directly with technical experts from the Department of Energy and the U.S. National Laboratories.According to the Department of Energy, the time and cost required to construct new housing, commercial buildings, data centers, and factories have become barriers to meeting demand.The new program is designed to address specific technical problems that builders are encountering in the field.A builder can bring a particular challenge to the Department of Energy, and DOE will attempt to match that company with subject matter experts who have the expertise to help solve it.And there is an important feature here.The technical assistance comes at no direct cost to the builder.This is not a grant program where the federal government is funding the construction project itself.The value being offered is technical support.-----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Rules Don't Flow Downhill 14.09.2026 5min

  On today's show we're talking about one of the quietest ways a deal gets killed. Not a rate move, not a cost overrun. A city council vote you assumed would never happen.Let's start with the constitutional plumbing, because it explains everything that follows.In the United States, municipalities are creatures of the state. They have no inherent sovereignty. Their zoning power, their taxing power, their permitting authority, all of it is delegated from above. Most states follow some version of Dillon's Rule, which says a city can do only what the state has expressly authorized it to do.Now, if you stop reading there, you would conclude something very reasonable and very wrong. You would conclude that when a state or the federal government creates a housing incentive, it flows downhill automatically. The state says multifamily is permitted near transit, so multifamily is permitted near transit. The state creates a property tax exemption for workforce housing, so the exemption exists.That is not how it works. And I see investors underwrite as though it is.Here's the thing. The fact that a city gets its power from the state doesn't mean the city is obedient. Let me give you real examples.Massachusetts passed the MBTA Communities Act. It requires 177 municipalities in the transit service area to zone at least one district for multifamily as of right. This is a mandate. Not a suggestion. The town of Milton hired a consultant, filed an action plan, and adopted the overlay district in December of 2023. Two months later the voters overturned it by referendum. The Attorney General sued. The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law. And five years after passage, in January of 2026, the AG had to sue another nine towns for continued noncompliance.So even a hard mandate with an enforcement mechanism took five years and multiple lawsuits. If your pro forma assumed as-of-right entitlement in one of those towns in year one, you were carrying a multi-year hole.Florida' Live Local Act created a seventy-five percent property tax exemption for units between 80%-120% of AMI. Local taxing authorities were allowed to opt out, and thirty-four of the forty-nine eligible counties did exactly that. Their reasoning was straightforward. The state gets the policy win, the county writes the cheque. Because the exemption generally applies only after completion, lenders were discounting it at underwriting. So even where the incentive survived, it didn't reliably show up in the capital stack.Colorado is my favourite case, because it's the trap that looks like a win. Proposition 123 sent about three hundred and fifty million dollars a year at affordable housing. More than two hundred jurisdictions opted in, covering over ninety percent of the state's population. Looks like near-universal adoption. But the piece that actually matters to a developer is the ninety-day fast-track approval commitment, and as of early 2025 roughly five jurisdictions had implemented one. Opting in and building the machinery were two different votes, years apart.-------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Shopping Center Revival with Michael Flight 13.09.2026 17min

  Michael Flight has been specializing in shopping centers since the mid 1980's. On today's show we are talking about how shopping centers are going through a revival of sorts. We're talking about where the demand is and how to create value in shopping centers. To connect with Michael, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-flight/ or at his company Concordia Realty. ------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Software Innovation in Apartments with Eddie Fong 13.09.2026 16min

  Eddie Fong is based in Seattle and he started his career at companies like Microsoft, Dropbox and Salesforce. In the past year he has taken that software development expertise and started applying it to the world of multi-family investing. On today's show we are talking about the US of AI in real estate and how the capabilities are evolving. To conenct with Eddie visit https://mistryos.com/ or reach out to him at [email protected]**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Should Foreign Buyers Be Banned? 12.09.2026 6min

  Canada has a housing shortage. But at the same time, parts of the country have too many condominiums for sale.Those two statements sound contradictory. They’re not.Toronto has experienced a historic collapse in new condominium sales. In 2025, only about 1,600 new condos were sold across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. That was down roughly 60 percent from the previous year and approximately 95 percent from the peak recorded in 2021.This is more than a slow market. It represents the failure of the financial machinery that produced much of Canada’s new urban housing.A condominium project is usually financed in stages. Before a lender advances construction financing, the developer must demonstrate that a significant percentage of the building has been sold. Purchasers sign agreements and provide deposits. Those presales give the lender confidence that the completed units will generate enough revenue to repay the construction loan.The foreign-buyer ban was politically simple. Foreign buyers were portrayed as part of the affordability problem, so excluding them appeared to protect Canadians.The emerging condominium crisis reveals that capital performs more than one role. It can inflate the price of existing assets, but it can also finance the production of new ones.Canada may now be forced to decide whether it wants less foreign ownership or more housing badly enough to accept the capital required to build it.That is the tension.The country did not eliminate the need for investor capital. It merely reduced the number of investors allowed to provide it.------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Can ICE Impact Your Construction Project? 10.09.2026 5min

  On today's show we're talking about a construction risk that may not be in your pro forma.You might say, "Victor, I only hire legally authorized workers. Why should immigration enforcement affect my project?"That's a perfectly reasonable question.But it misunderstands how a construction labor market works.Construction pricing is not determined solely by who works on your job site. It's determined by the depth of the entire labor pool competing for the same work.Over the past several months, immigration enforcement in the United States has accelerated considerably.ICE arrests increased from 32,545 in May to 43,021 in June, and then to 49,571 in July.Nearly 40 percent of the July arrests occurred in Texas and Florida.Now, those numbers by themselves don't tell us much about construction. But when you look at what is happening in individual markets, the picture becomes more interesting.In Austin, Texas, one large homebuilder reported that framing labor costs increased between 25 and 50 percent in a matter of weeks.-----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Which Auto Plants Will Close Next? 09.09.2026 6min

  On Sept 10 at 8PM EDT, 5PM PDT, I'm hosting a live conversation with Jacob Blackett, CEO of Sponsorcloud. We are going to be talking about how software can improve the investor relationship for private investments. If you can't attend, register anyway and we will send you the recording. CLICK HERE to register. -------------For generations, automobile manufacturing has been one of the great economic anchors of North American cities.Think about Detroit, Windsor, Oshawa, Toledo, Louisville, Georgetown, Kentucky, or countless smaller communities throughout Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee.The automobile plant was never just a factory.Thousands of people worked inside the plant. Thousands more worked for suppliers making seats, dashboards, transmissions, brakes, electronics and stamped metal components.Then there were trucking companies, warehouses, restaurants, hotels and service businesses.Those paychecks eventually found their way into houses, apartments and shopping centers.But something fundamental is changing.China has become the world's dominant electric-vehicle manufacturing center. In 2025, nearly 22 million electric cars were produced globally. China manufactured about 16 million of them.That's nearly three quarters of global EV production.More importantly, China produced about 20 percent more electric vehicles than its domestic market consumed.VW just laid of 50,000 people and announced another 50,000 workforce reductions. Nissan is in trouble. Honda is in trouble. Stellantis has excess capacity. We will see major changes in the auto industry globally. Are your real estate investments reliant on auto manufacturing or some portion of the supply chain as the employment base? -------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  The Recreation Segment is Bleeding 08.09.2026 7min

  On today's show, we're looking at what boats, recreational vehicles, and cottages can tell us about the economic cycle.The pattern is familiar. Demand exceeds supply. Prices rise. Producers expand. Buyers accelerate purchases because waiting appears expensive. Lenders become comfortable financing assets whose prices keep climbing.But supply takes time to arrive. By the time factories expand, subdivisions get built, or boats leave the shipyard, demand may have changed. Yesterday's shortage becomes tomorrow's inventory problem.We've seen this in many segments of the economy like real estate, semiconductors, and oil. High prices encourage the investment that eventually undermines those prices.The pandemic added another ingredient. We pulled future demand into the present. Families bought the cottage, boat, or RV several years earlier than they otherwise might have. Suppliers could mistake that temporary rush for permanently higher demand.Once you've bought a boat, you don't need another one next year. Tomorrow's customer already bought yesterday.Consider the catamaran market. One market commentary puts used inventory at 1,161 boats, against estimated annual sales of approximately 290. Those figures imply that only about 25 percent of today's inventory would sell in a year at that pace. Roughly 871 boats, or 75 percent, would remain, before accounting for new listings or withdrawals.That's approximately four years of inventory.Many of these boats are structurally upside down. They depreciated faster in the first five years than the principal paydown on a 20 year amortized loan. So if you have real estate that is linked to the recreation business cycle, you want to pay close attention to what is happening in this segment. --------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  
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  Tour The World of Interest Rates 07.09.2026 7min

  On today’s show we’re going to take a trip around the world through one very specific lens: the yield on the 10-year government bond.This is not just a tour of interest rates. The 10-year bond is one of the clearest places where investors collectively put a price on inflation, fiscal policy, monetary policy, currency risk, and increasingly, geopolitics.As we record this, the U.S. 10-year Treasury is around 4.8 percent. Germany is around 3.35 percent. The United Kingdom is above 5.1 percent. France is around 4.2 percent. Italy is also around 4.2 percent. Japan has crossed 3 percent, and South Korea is around 4.4 percent.Those numbers are interesting individually. But the comparison between them is where the story starts to emerge.And there’s another dimension to these numbers that I think makes the story even more interesting.Ask yourself: When was the last time these countries were paying this much for 10-year money? Some of these date back 20 years, and in some cases 30 years. What does that mean for the global demand for US Treasuries, independent of geopolitics? Why take currency risk if you can get decent yield at home? If there are fewer buyers for US bonds in Germany or Japan, those bond prices fall and you will pay more for a loan in the US. That's the link. ---------------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)