When rent growth stalls, the reflex is to start cutting expenses. I think that's backwards. Expenses are finite. You can only cut so far before you're cutting into the asset. Revenue leaks are different. They're usually just execution gaps: money the lease already entitles you to that nobody is actually collecting. I recently went through three properties (40, 72 and 200 units) line by line. Same pattern every time. Here's what turned up. 1. Flat rents on long-tenure residents → $27K/year The 40-unit had 16 legacy units averaging $957 against a proven ceiling of $1,099. One resident had been there 13.8 years at $900. I'm not going to chase full market on someone that sticky. But zero escalation for a decade isn't loyalty pricing. It's a compounding leak. A modest $50/year bump started three years ago would already have banked $450 and would keep compounding. The rule I use now: every renewal gets something. Under 3 years, market or in-place +3-5%, whichever is higher. Over 5 years, a gentle $25-50 to keep goodwill intact. That's $2-3K per unit over a decade you'd otherwise never see. At a 5.75% exit cap, $27K of permanently impaired NOI is roughly $469K of equity gone. Worth the slightly awkward conversation. 2. Lease expirations stacked in waves → $18-30K/year The 72-unit was running 53% true retention against a 65-80% Class C benchmark. Almost half the departures were controllable: evictions, skips, people leaving over a rent increase. Not the market. Worse, 21 units expired in September. That's 29% of the building in one month. When that happens you can't pre-lease, you can't be selective, and you sign whatever walks through the door. What fixed it: renewal outreach at 75 days instead of 30-45, and 13-15 month terms on new leases to push expirations toward summer and flatten the curve. Now I look at the expiration calendar 90 days out. Anything over 15% in a single month gets staggered before it becomes a cliff. Every avoidable move-out runs about $5,500 (a month vacant, plus turn, plus leasing commission). Twelve of those a year adds up.

Today is a day to spend with your families. We will not be having a call today. Enjoy the day. 🇺🇸

I walked my first property today as GP today for due diligence. I'm super excited.

I love that all the calls are recorded so we have the opportunity to hear what is going on if we miss the calls. Thank you.

Haven't posted in a while, and the reason is boring: we've been stuck in a purchase agreement. 📝 Same deal, months of redlines. Send, review, send it back. Change three words. Wait five days. Repeat. 🔁 Nobody tells you this part. The reels make it look like you find a building, shake a hand, and post the closing photo. 📸 The actual job is a lot of weeks where the only thing that moves is a paragraph in a contract nobody outside the deal will ever read. Not glamorous, but it's the work. Every clause you argue over now is a fight you don't have in year three. 💪 Still moving. Still under contract. Just quieter than usual. 🤝 Anybody else in contract limbo right now? 👇 What's the longest you've gone between LOI and close?