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Investment April 19, 2024/Investment Anybody who’s been investing for a while has probably noticed that the economy is highly cyclical. Interest rates rise and fall. Booms alternate with recessions.    Successful real estate investors pay close attention to these cycles.   An old friend once asked me, what’s the difference between making the right call…

Investment April 12, 2024/Investment Buy low and sell high is such an obvious recipe for investing success, you would think anybody could do it. In reality, it takes real market insight and a clear picture of where things are heading.    Alliance’s investors appreciate our reliable 7-9% preferred returns. But with interest rates where they…

Investment March 17, 2024/Investment For years, I built Alliance incrementally. Deal by deal.   I was “successful”, but also playing it small. While I was chasing the next win, I wasn’t then seeing the bigger game I could be playing.   We all have blindspots. They’re the places we don’t like to look, the parts…

Investment March 14, 2024/Investment Everybody knows that real estate gets financed with debt, right? Not so fast.   Recently, Alliance has started using cash purchases to close better deals, faster. This creative use of capital helps us in several ways.   Before closing a deal, due diligence is essential. Our team at Alliance takes a…

Investment March 4, 2024/Investment Alliance keeps a close eye on the healthcare industry, to understand our tenants and assess what changes might impact our investment strategies.    Recently, we’ve seen a big spike in healthcare labor costs.   The healthcare labor market has been tight ever since the early days of the pandemic. When everything…

Investment February 29, 2024/Investment In business as well as life, nothing matters more than trust.    This is particularly important when it comes to lenders, who are extremely valuable long term partners for Alliance. Strong, trust-based lender relationships give Alliance the speed and flexibility we need to beat the market.   As real estate investors…

Investment February 9, 2024/Investment Real estate can be a little like hunting. Seasoned investors stay patient and disciplined, then strike when the moment is right.   2023 was a quiet year in which Alliance did fewer deals than we have for a long time. This year is likely to be very different.   Last year,…

Investment February 2, 2024/Investment I’m always thinking about how to increase profits and returns for Alliance’s investors. How can we get more output from the same inputs? It’s a question that interests all CEOs.   Recently, I found a new framework that addresses this question. A Silicon Valley venture capitalist named Naval Ravikant describes three…

Investment January 5, 2024/Investment Now more than ever, investors care deeply about protecting their capital.    I love talking to these investors because they’re such a perfect match for Alliance.    If you’re close to retirement, with some extra savings, what should you do? How can you earn a decent return on your capital, without…

Investment December 22, 2023/Investment As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect. This has been a year of intentionality and building, for both Alliance and for me personally.   Alliance has successfully moved our financing model from syndicated deals to a fund. Our new fund is off to a great start. We’ve landed…

Investment November 27, 2023/Investment Options traders and other financial professionals might say that if you want downside protection, you have to sacrifice upside rewards. That’s not always true.   This might be true in most markets, but Alliance’s multi-decade track record is proof that it is actually possible to find super safe investments that also…

Investment November 2, 2023/Investment   To make profitable deals, we first need to find the right properties.    Our broad industry network helps clue us into potential deals, and our deep expertise in valuation helps us figure out which ones are worth pursuing.   Valuation is tricky and it’s important to not judge a book,…

Investment October 12, 2023/Investment Recently, a lot of investors have been asking me about capital preservation. In these uncertain times, people are rightfully concerned about protecting their wealth.   I love this question, because Alliance’s investing strategy is perfectly designed for capital preservation.   The great Warren Buffet once said that there are a few…

Investment October 6, 2023/Investment Anybody can buy market exposure and rise with the tide. But the best investors make a heck of a lot more money, and they do it by being consistent over time. That requires relentless focus on supply and demand.   It seems simple. When demand is growing faster than supply, prices…

Investment September 29, 2023/Investment I am frequently asked how Alliance approaches valuation. We recently published a longer explanation of real estate valuation methods.   But here’s the shorter version. We use our years of expertise to determine which of the many property valuation methods best fits in any given situation. By far the most important…