Archive — RJOHNTHEBAD

Plain talk on building and development

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May 2023
- May 29, 2023 Office Vacancy Chaos and Opportunity May 29, 2023
December 2022
- Dec 4, 2022 Model Text Amendment for Dwelling Unit Equivalents Dec 4, 2022
November 2022
- Nov 19, 2022 The Most Ridiculous Face Palm Issue in Modern Planning and Zoning Nov 19, 2022
August 2022
- Aug 26, 2022 You Think You're Frustrated about Affordable Housing??? Lemme Tell You.... Aug 26, 2022
June 2022
- Jun 19, 2022 DIY Regulatory Reform -Dryer Repair, ADUs, and Bike Lanes Jun 19, 2022
May 2022
- May 25, 2022 Pouring Gasoline on Three Colliding Problems May 25, 2022
March 2022
- Mar 21, 2022 Embedded Urbanists? Isn't there some shortcut? Mar 21, 2022
January 2022
- Jan 28, 2022 Comparing Purchase/Rehab loans form Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, FHA, and VA Jan 28, 2022
December 2021
- Dec 2, 2021 Small Developers and the Construction Labor Shortage -time to dig deep. Dec 2, 2021
October 2021
- Oct 28, 2021 Will Banks Invest in Distressed Neighborhoods? Oct 28, 2021
- Oct 22, 2021 What is a bigger problem than a bubble in house prices? Oct 22, 2021
September 2021
- Sep 20, 2021 Real Estate Math is Relentless Sep 20, 2021
- Sep 2, 2021 Excited About Inclusionary Zoning? Do the Math, and the Excitement Will Pass Sep 2, 2021
August 2021
- Aug 30, 2021 Template for Sorting Out a Zoning Code Aug 30, 2021
July 2021
- Jul 31, 2021 So what's the Deal with the Incremental Development Alliance (IncDev)? Jul 31, 2021
- Jul 20, 2021 Big Money is Looking for Commodity Suburban Houses Jul 20, 2021
June 2021
- Jun 17, 2021 How do you get started as a Small Developer? Here are 3 Options: Jun 17, 2021
April 2021
- Apr 29, 2021 Who is going to make the great plan into reality? Who is going to sweat the details that matter? Apr 29, 2021
- Apr 23, 2021 The McPodium Building and Fast Casual Architecture Apr 23, 2021
- Apr 19, 2021 Ivy Vann -Straight talk about shoes and housing Apr 19, 2021
- Apr 18, 2021 Who can afford to build on of those ADU's in their back yard? Who is this really serving? Apr 18, 2021
- Apr 13, 2021 Do You become a different person when you buy a house? Seriously? Apr 13, 2021
- Apr 12, 2021 Why is Density such an ugly word? Apr 12, 2021
December 2020
- Dec 26, 2020 Why Would I Ever Want to Read That? Dec 26, 2020
- Dec 15, 2020 Roughly Right or Precisely Wrong? Dec 15, 2020
- Dec 5, 2020 Which Code? The Building Code? The Zoning Code? -you gotta be more specific.... Dec 5, 2020
- Dec 3, 2020 First Project? Here's the best advice I can give a rookie developer Dec 3, 2020
- Dec 1, 2020 I have sent some version of this email to a lot of rookie developers Dec 1, 2020
June 2020
- Jun 24, 2020 So, why can't we get a Trader Joe here? Jun 24, 2020
May 2020
- May 29, 2020 How do we face the Monster and find our resolve? May 29, 2020
March 2018
- Mar 24, 2018 Helping Your City Go Broke When You Know Better is Borderline Criminal Mar 24, 2018
February 2018
- Feb 17, 2018 Three Story Urbanism? No Problem. Feb 17, 2018
January 2018
- Jan 21, 2018 Sharing a Cottage Court Pro Forma (A Live Excel File) Jan 21, 2018
- Jan 8, 2018 Beyond the Tiny House Jan 8, 2018
November 2017
- Nov 30, 2017 Video from the Recruiting Lecture for Emerging Developers - Memphis/May 2017 Nov 30, 2017
- Nov 28, 2017 I figured out how to do remote coaching for Small Developers Nov 28, 2017
- Nov 22, 2017 Sorting out Mobile Homes, Modular Homes and the rest of the Systems-Built Offerings Nov 22, 2017
- Nov 22, 2017 Walk Before You Attempt to Run (or Fly) Nov 22, 2017
October 2017
- Oct 15, 2017 Are Developers Just Trying to Maximize Profit? Oct 15, 2017
July 2017
- Jul 7, 2017 Arrrgh! How do we start a productive conversation about Inclusionary Zoning? (Part I) Jul 7, 2017
April 2017
- Apr 27, 2017 The Best Cottage Court Guy I know Apr 27, 2017
- Apr 5, 2017 A Noticeably Less Shitty Version of Darth Vader Apr 5, 2017
March 2017
- Mar 18, 2017 Brooklyn doesn't need your ass... Mar 18, 2017
December 2016
- Dec 24, 2016 Year End Big Picture Thinking for Small Developers Dec 24, 2016
November 2016
- Nov 14, 2016 Does Your Town Need an Authentic Asshole? Nov 14, 2016
October 2016
- Oct 13, 2016 Let's Line the Edges of Parking Lots with Small Shop Front Buildings. Oct 13, 2016
September 2016
- Sep 4, 2016 You're an Urbanist? Excellent. Why Aren't You a Developer Yet? Sep 4, 2016
August 2016
- Aug 23, 2016 How do I Get Started as a Small Developer? Find your "Farm". Aug 23, 2016
June 2016
- Jun 4, 2016 The First Year of Small Developer Activity Jun 4, 2016
May 2016
- May 27, 2016 The Zoning Code makes the Comprehensive Plan Illegal? WTF? May 27, 2016
- May 26, 2016 Why is it so hard to build a decent building? May 26, 2016
- May 5, 2016 She tells this story way better than I do... May 5, 2016
April 2016
- Apr 8, 2016 Building Houses or Condo's for Sale? Bad Dog Ginger! Apr 8, 2016
March 2016
- Mar 24, 2016 The 20K House is Bullsh*t Mar 24, 2016
- Mar 16, 2016 Close but no Cigar -recent changes in the HUD 221(d)(4) Loan program Mar 16, 2016
- Mar 14, 2016 What the heck is a "Quadrant Foul? Mar 14, 2016
- Mar 8, 2016 Balconies? Nah. Mar 8, 2016
February 2016
- Feb 16, 2016 How do you know there is a demand for decent renovated or new apartments close to food, drink and day care? Feb 16, 2016
- Feb 14, 2016 Large Developer = Orchestra Conductor, Small Developer = Band Leader (a video interview). Feb 14, 2016
January 2016
- Jan 24, 2016 Mapping the Small Development Project/Process Jan 24, 2016
- Jan 17, 2016 Why Bother with this Small Developer Stuff? Jan 17, 2016
- Jan 9, 2016 Disrupting Coffee and Drywall Jan 9, 2016
- Jan 8, 2016 Gracen Johnson is a very quick study. Jan 8, 2016
- Jan 2, 2016 One more time. Why is it essential to mentor your trades? Jan 2, 2016
- Jan 1, 2016 Gentrification? Nah. Let's talk about local jobs and local wealth. Jan 1, 2016
December 2015
- Dec 17, 2015 Parking Hysteria is the norm -and that ain't right Dec 17, 2015
- Dec 10, 2015 A great place eventually... Downtown South Miami with Victor Dover. Dec 10, 2015
November 2015
- Nov 21, 2015 An Email Reply to a Prospective Small Developer Nov 21, 2015
- Nov 3, 2015 Who says you can't get financing for a small mixed use building???!! Nov 3, 2015
- Nov 1, 2015 Working with grad students for a week has me thinking about the basics Nov 1, 2015
October 2015
- Oct 27, 2015 Developer in Residence? Exploring three infill scenarios with grad students Oct 27, 2015
- Oct 26, 2015 Answering some basic questions on forming an LLC and getting a construction loan for a small project Oct 26, 2015
- Oct 25, 2015 Monte Anderson Thinks Your Town Needs a Better Class of Developers Oct 25, 2015
- Oct 10, 2015 Last Call for the Atlanta Small Developer Boot Camp October 13-14, 2015 Oct 10, 2015
- Oct 3, 2015 7 Things a Town can do to Encourage Incremental Development Oct 3, 2015
September 2015
- Sep 25, 2015 Goldilocks Buildings in Louisville Sep 25, 2015
- Sep 21, 2015 Mapping the Small Development Project/Process Sep 21, 2015
- Sep 13, 2015 Whadda Ya mean "Farming"? I thought we were talking about Development? Sep 13, 2015
August 2015
- Aug 26, 2015 What's the Big Deal with Small Developers Anyway? ---Capacity Building. Aug 26, 2015
- Aug 25, 2015 Parking Hysteria, Sloth, and Indifference Aug 25, 2015
- Aug 22, 2015 So Why Won't You Build Condos? Aug 22, 2015
- Aug 17, 2015 Quick Notes following the Small Developers Boot Camp Aug 17, 2015
- Aug 11, 2015 Homework for the Small Developers Boot Camp Aug 11, 2015
- Aug 11, 2015 Small Developer Boot Camp Schedule August 14-16, 2015 Aug 11, 2015
- Aug 10, 2015 How do you handle all the risky stuff that goes into development? Aug 10, 2015
July 2015
- Jul 15, 2015 Sorting through the the Small Developer Basics; Land Cost, Total Project Cost, and Likely Rents Jul 15, 2015
- Jul 11, 2015 More Video - Lean Urbanism from CNU23 Jul 11, 2015
- Jul 9, 2015 What If Our Town Fixes the Parking Rules and Zoning and Then Nobody Comes to Build? Jul 9, 2015
- Jul 7, 2015 Asking Nicely for Something that should be Really Obvious ---(Again with the Parking Thing) Jul 7, 2015
- Jul 6, 2015 Parking Bloat Drives Down the Price of Land in Desirable Neighborhoods (which is really dumb). Jul 6, 2015
- Jul 2, 2015 Grim Arterial Street or a Multi-way Boulevard ? Jul 2, 2015
June 2015
- Jun 18, 2015 August Small Developer Boot Camp Registration is Full Jun 18, 2015
- Jun 16, 2015 Eric Brown Pays it Forward Jun 16, 2015
- Jun 12, 2015 Small Developer Boot Camp Registration is filling up fast. Better get on it. Jun 12, 2015
- Jun 7, 2015 Chris Nelson Wrote a "Red Pill" Book that will not let you look at the world in the same way once you have read it. Jun 7, 2015
- Jun 7, 2015 Why would you want to build in smaller pieces? A case for the painfully obvious. Jun 7, 2015
- Jun 6, 2015 When is an Investor's Cash like Plywood? Jun 6, 2015
- Jun 3, 2015 Time to get signed up for the Small Developer Boot Camp in Dallas August 14-16, 2015 Jun 3, 2015
May 2015
- May 28, 2015 Stay in the Safe Zone until you are ready to ask for money May 28, 2015
- May 25, 2015 Tasks to Demonstrate a Town's Resolve both Essential and Useful May 25, 2015
- May 24, 2015 Build Maine? Hell Yes. May 24, 2015
- May 17, 2015 What is Worrying the Rookie Developer? May 17, 2015
- May 15, 2015 Summer 2015 Small Developer/Builder Boot Camp in Dallas May 15, 2015
- May 14, 2015 The Green Shoots of Common Sense Transportation Planning Popping up in Dallas May 14, 2015
- May 13, 2015 How 'bout we build without the damned air conditioner? May 13, 2015
- May 11, 2015 Another look at how to build a 3 story building without an elevator May 11, 2015
- May 10, 2015 What is a Small Developer/Builder Shark Tank? May 10, 2015
- May 9, 2015 A Ton of Work to do after CNU 23 in Dallas - Part II of II May 9, 2015
- May 8, 2015 Sorting Through FHA/HUD Housing Finance --a revised (7/8/15) quick primer May 8, 2015
- May 6, 2015 A Ton of Work to do after CNU 23 in Dallas - Part I of II May 6, 2015
April 2015
- Apr 27, 2015 Building on a Contaminated Site that is Stuck in a Time Warp Apr 27, 2015
- Apr 26, 2015 How Do I Get Started as a Developer? --With a Four-Plex. Apr 26, 2015
- Apr 23, 2015 Some stuff I learned from Dan Camp Apr 23, 2015
- Apr 21, 2015 Constraints Make You More Thoughtful Apr 21, 2015
- Apr 13, 2015 Letting Go of Lousy Buildings Apr 13, 2015
- Apr 11, 2015 We Need More Cutting Edge Boring Stuff Apr 11, 2015
- Apr 7, 2015 3 Things You Should Read Today Instead of This Blog Apr 7, 2015
- Apr 6, 2015 Advice for Another Young Developer Apr 6, 2015
- Apr 6, 2015 What's a "Liner Building" anyway? Apr 6, 2015
- Apr 5, 2015 Instant Comfort from New Shoes? Apr 5, 2015
March 2015
- Mar 31, 2015 Philip Johnson was Half Right Mar 31, 2015
- Mar 29, 2015 Cap Rate Compression --- Dinosaurs, and Squirrels - Part 2 Mar 29, 2015
- Mar 28, 2015 Why Build New Buildings in Distressed Neighborhoods? Mar 28, 2015
- Mar 25, 2015 Return On Brain Damage - Selecting a Site Mar 25, 2015
- Mar 24, 2015 Getting started in Development; a Podcast & a Video Mar 24, 2015
- Mar 24, 2015 Reforming the Culture of Building Regular Stuff Mar 24, 2015
- Mar 23, 2015 Excellent Free Stuff from Smart People Mar 23, 2015
- Mar 22, 2015 Steve Mouzon makes me crazy sometimes Mar 22, 2015
- Mar 19, 2015 Sound Advice for Rookie Developers from Andrew Frey Mar 19, 2015
- Mar 18, 2015 Cindy Crawford, Phyllis Diller and Basic Good Design Mar 18, 2015
- Mar 15, 2015 Consequential Decisions Made with Limited Information Mar 15, 2015
- Mar 12, 2015 Upon Reflection, I was Wrong. Mar 12, 2015
- Mar 8, 2015 Why build for rent -and not for sale? Mar 8, 2015
- Mar 7, 2015 An email to a prospective developer Mar 7, 2015
- Mar 7, 2015 Dinosaurs and Squirrels Mar 7, 2015
June 2013
- Jun 8, 2013 Not Your Grandfather's Alley Jun 8, 2013