// the mood & vibes this week
— hi, friends :) writing this to you from stereoscope, one of my favorite cafes on the eastside. some cafes i feel are the equivalent of hostile architecture - like, spikes on benches where people could sleep or tops of buildings where birds roost - to discourage you from staying long. stereoscope is not like that. it feels like a little wood modernist box where i can just post up and crank sh*t out. it's been a welcome respite from the literal construction site i am living in!
— ok, maybe i'm being a tad dramatic. the truth is, i'm not really living in a construction site anymore. well, the exterior and units 1+2 are defff under construction. but girlies, i moved up to the PENTHOUSE - as my teammate and homie courtney says. this is a long-winded way of me telling you that i moved up to the top unit, finally!!!!! waking up and not worrying about breathing in drywall is like, the best feeling ever. but i am def still in the thick of it. and feeling like…equal parts excited and stressed. like, think about a time you've been in a really big project, that's simultaneously creatively feeding your soul but also – you can't shake the feeling that if you make one wrong move, you might fall off a cliff. that's kinda where i'm at. mostly just stressed about budget, honestly. i know i'll be OK, but as i've told ya, the scope of my renovation ballooned when circumstances changed and my triplex became fully vacant (which rocks). it's just…THE most money i've spent EVER. which brings up a lot of old money insecurities i thought i'd dealt with in therapy lol. i grew up with money anxiety from a young age. def had privilege, and i recognize that - we were never in real dire straights. and i want to make it very clear that i don't say any of the following to illicit sympathy, because even when a lot was lost, i had so much, which i am beyond grateful for. it was honestly more about relativity then anything else.
— so, where i come from is a very affluent part of the world. i was constantly surrounded by folks who just truly had a lot, A LOT of money. in my earlier years, we could compete - keep up with the joneses, if you will - we too lived in the nice big house with the nice big yard and the nice big pool. we too had the blowout parties and kept the grass green. but work stress with my parents chipped away at this life, and i first remembered it with the statuesque fountain in the garden. i used to love looking at it, watching the water run down the intricate corten steel, fashioned into something i can't even recall anymore. one summer it just stopped working. i remember asking my mom repeatedly if we could fix it, and she just had this look like - we wouldn't be. soon enough, my dad lost his job, and we had to sell our house. in the years after, my parents split up, and things grew even more tight. like i said before, i never truly struggled, and we always had everything we needed. but despite this, i could never shake the feeling that we weren't 1000% secure. there was still a keen sense that money could be given and then just taken away, and never reappear, at least not in the way you used to have it. so in turn, i developed a kind of money scarcity. that others certainly had more, ours was shaky and on the lower end, and a general tone of ‘lack.' you had to save and earn and get aggressively educated and go hustle. and the fact is – even though a lot of the above^ sounds negative, those lessons really served me! i don't think i would kick ass the way i do with work, and have bought a property at a relatively young age, if i didn't have these experiences. but i can tell some of the unpleasant after-effects are lingering. in moments like this renovation, when so much money is going out the door, it reminds me of those days when the money left, and it wasn't coming back. often these days, i have to actively talk to myself - dispel the anxious thoughts of - oh sh*t what if i don't make another dollar, what if it all dries up, what if what if WHAT IF. we working on it in therapy!
— although i will say: one thing that's kept this renovation going, and my anxieties at bay, has been all of the real estate success this year!!! as of next tuesday (another closing!) i will have sold almost $9M of houses in the last three months. WHAT?????? that's approaching record territory for me. i haven't really spent a drop on me - it's all going into the triplex. which i know will serve me dividends later (crosses fingers and wishes for summer 2026 in greece, PNW, bodies of water)
— we are knee-deep into landscaping rn, which is maybe my favorite part of this whole process. because the fact is, i kinda bought an ugly duckling. as is, she was naawwwwwwtttt cute when i got her. and it is SO SATISFYING to watch her become cute. i'm working with one of my close homies on the landscaping component, molly @ ORCA living. i have admired her landscaping practice for literal years. the way they create gardens and exteriors that feel deeply in tune with earthy materiality … it's amazing. i feel so lucky to have the team on this project. we have been cutting up concrete in the front, tiling pathways, adding SO MANY plants, and overall just imbuing that midcentury jungle vibe. it's all not a small expense, this is true. and i've had investor friends who raise a bit of an eyebrow when i tell them the exterior budget. it's a common thing that in multifamily investing or even just like single family flipping, everything has to have a specific ROI (return on investment). there are areas where you spend (kitchen+bathroom+adding square footage) and areas you don't (landscaping). this ofc varies from property to property, and i DO think there is a place for rigid formulas. but something i also firmly believe — injecting your property with good juju - creating a vibe - investing in aesthetics - all of which deeply reflect the period in which it was built - THAT is the way. you can't just approach it with a spreadsheet. do you know how many f*cking awful white box apartments are sitting on the rental market right now? all because some landlord thought it was more profitable to add gray laminate floors, or do an all white bathroom because it was “safe.” well, honestly, fuck safe! i've seen it time and time again that when you create something that is stunning, unique, a VIBE - THAT is what delivers premium pricing. this is not to shade those other landlords - ok, yes it is to shade the straight cis men - bc playing it safe DOES work. somebody's gotta rent those boring units. but IMO, too many purveyors of housing are doing so. today's buyers/renters crave SOMETHING, ANYTHING, that has SOME ASPECT OF FLAVOR AND COLOR AND WARMTH AND INTENTION. even typing this now, i can kinda see how passionate i am about this…bringing the good juju back to houses. i'm really excited to debut the rental units at mine & do my part to keep sh*t interesting :)
— so, timelines. landscape and exterior should wrap in like two weeks. unit 2 should be done in maybe a week after that. then, end of september, they'll hit the rental market !! ahh !!
— in terms of the real estate market itself…things are still slow, this is true. i feel like many of my top producing agent friends are also just not having as much activity as they're used to. that is expected to heat up in the fall, which is one of our selling seasons. there are definitely still cool wood houses popping on, but they're more few+far between. our team is bustling tho, which is awesome.
click here to check out my faves we have on the market— other updates: last week, i sold the wood house on hebron lane !!! woot woot !! that one took longer then expected, but ultimately found her right custodians. and yes, they are preservationists, thank GAWD. also, i'm sure you've seen that i changed my profile photo on here, and on IG, and on my website !!! ahhh !!! vintage photobooth vibes. i loved my old photos, but my mom kept being like YOU ARE NOT BRUNETTE ANYMORE that does not look like you !! and i was like momma you are right. i was anxious to change it for so long because photos are HARD. even when we took new team photos+headshots in may, they gave me a tonnnnnnnnn of gender dysphoria, so i was nawt about to use them. when i got this new pic, i just immediately knew it was the one. i can't tell you how affirming it is to just see myself in a photo where i feel stunning and woman and like myself. it's pretty fire.
— in terms of what's coming up … continually on the hunt with my slew of buyers. prepping houses with the team to launch.
— if you're looking to buy a wood house elsewhere in CA + the US, there's a good chance i can refer you to an agent in your city. referrals are a great way to support me. whenever i send a client to one of my cool out-of-area agent friends, i actually receive a portion of that commission! and like most things in life, a recommendation from a friend is the way to go. if that's you, respond to this email and i'd be happy to connect you.
— as always, with the houses i feature below, if you're interested in more details, respond to this email.
— talk to you soon, and sending love.
xx,
sam
