Episode 132: From Value-Add Multifamily to Hotel Conversions and New Construction with James Kandasamy - Apartments Operators Podcast

James Kandasamy Joins host Joseph Gozlan on the Apartments Operators Podcast to share his multifamily Journey. James has syndicated, purchased, and sold thousands of units, self-managing from day one(!). James shares the benefits and challenges that come with self-managing thousands of units and why he chose to do a hotel conversion (spoiler: he made a LOT more money than conventional multifamily value-add) and why he now does a ground-up new construction of a large-scale multifamily community. 

00:00 00:57 Getting started 02:14 we started self-management from day one! 05:53 Pro-Tip: looking for contractors in Craig's List 08:03 Why we stopped using GCs 10:31 It's really hard to get it right in the beginning 17:25 We want to take the management upside first 18:12 Renovating 101: kitchen & bathrooms are always the highest priority 20:54 Fixed fee utilities vs. RUBS. 25:11 Finding the right people 26:58 Expecting your team to operate at a standard that is much higher than the pay grade. 28:40  Only the top operators will survive the next few years! 31:00 we're gonna see some interesting buying opportunities coming up in the next couple of years 41:10 Hiring tip: passion and ownership are more important than knowledge. 44:55 new development is the ultimate game in real estate 50:58 Advice to young self: get out of your network!  achieveinvestmentgroup.com passiveinvestinginrealestate.com