Sunday, May 20, 2007
Greetings from an extremely loud apartment in Buenos Aires. The place I rented for the week is situated in San Telmo adjacent to a tiny, one-lane street on six different bus routes. If you've never experienced the aural pleasure of an Argentinean public transport vehicle, let's just say they rank up there with 18-wheelers in terms of noise, and my bedroom is literally 10 feet away from the road. Can't say I've slept terribly well this week, and I'm looking forward to escaping to Salta, a province in northwest Argentina, later this week with my mom (she's arriving from the States tomorrow).
Aside from the apartment situation, it's been a great, albeit exhausting, trip. I've learned a hell of a lot about Latin American art and met numerous intriguing people, including a surprisingly large contingent from Texas. Also surprising was how many people here are familiar with Austin, but I hadn't considered that UT's Blanton Museum (which houses one of the largest Latin American art collections in the U.S.) is widely known and respected in the field. I could go on quite a bit longer about all the incredible, and incredibly inspiring, people I've met this week, but I've already detoured quite a bit from this blog's usual hotel-focused content, so I'll just shut up now. We'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming after I return to the States next week.
Aside from the apartment situation, it's been a great, albeit exhausting, trip. I've learned a hell of a lot about Latin American art and met numerous intriguing people, including a surprisingly large contingent from Texas. Also surprising was how many people here are familiar with Austin, but I hadn't considered that UT's Blanton Museum (which houses one of the largest Latin American art collections in the U.S.) is widely known and respected in the field. I could go on quite a bit longer about all the incredible, and incredibly inspiring, people I've met this week, but I've already detoured quite a bit from this blog's usual hotel-focused content, so I'll just shut up now. We'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming after I return to the States next week.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The search for an appropriate hotel site continues. It's been over six months since I first started looking, and I have to admit it's been somewhat exasperating searching for places that fit my criteria and aren't ridiculously overpriced, but thankfully I'm an eternal optimist.
I did get a bit of good news this week: I discovered the hotel project could be funded with what's called a 504 loan, backed by the Small Business Administration. The advantage of a 504 loan is twofold: the interest rate is significantly better than anything else typically available for commercial real estate loans (20-year-fixed at prime minus 1), and the required down payment is 15% of the overall project cost as opposed to the 30% mandated by most banks (including all the ones I've talked to thus far). Also, since it's SBA-guaranteed, lenders are far more willing to grant them for startup projects by neophytes in a particular field, e.g. me. I'm generally skeptical of government-backed business programs designed to help anyone other than the likes of Halliburton and Big Oil, but this one seems to be genuinely worthwhile, even if it's surprisingly under the radar (even people in the real estate field often aren't aware of its existence).
Anyway, I'll be taking a two-week breather as of Monday; I'm heading back to Argentina for the annual arteBA fair. I'm hoping to acquire some pieces for my house (and prices there are about 1/10th of what they'd be at a Miami Basel-type event), and I shall be doing some due diligence work on another potential business venture as well ... but more on that later.
I did get a bit of good news this week: I discovered the hotel project could be funded with what's called a 504 loan, backed by the Small Business Administration. The advantage of a 504 loan is twofold: the interest rate is significantly better than anything else typically available for commercial real estate loans (20-year-fixed at prime minus 1), and the required down payment is 15% of the overall project cost as opposed to the 30% mandated by most banks (including all the ones I've talked to thus far). Also, since it's SBA-guaranteed, lenders are far more willing to grant them for startup projects by neophytes in a particular field, e.g. me. I'm generally skeptical of government-backed business programs designed to help anyone other than the likes of Halliburton and Big Oil, but this one seems to be genuinely worthwhile, even if it's surprisingly under the radar (even people in the real estate field often aren't aware of its existence).
Anyway, I'll be taking a two-week breather as of Monday; I'm heading back to Argentina for the annual arteBA fair. I'm hoping to acquire some pieces for my house (and prices there are about 1/10th of what they'd be at a Miami Basel-type event), and I shall be doing some due diligence work on another potential business venture as well ... but more on that later.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Update: I finally "talked numbers" with the elderly owner of the East Austin building I was interested in. I was anticipating her expectations of its value being in the low- to mid-six figure range, and I was prepared to offer $400,000 max. Turns out the last offer she received (and turned down) for it was $1 million! For a shell of a building on a 0.16-acre lot! Even properties in the middle of downtown aren't that expensive, and I can buy a nearby empty lot 2x the size for much less than that. As much as I love the building and its rich history, I'm afraid I have to pass on the place. Back to the drawing board there...
On a brighter note, I finally met my hotel consultant in person today (he's a former Austinite but now based in Colorado), and we're definitely in sync in terms of our thoughts on the hotel-market opportunities in Austin. He's putting together a market analysis, feasbility study and some pro formas that I can use in developing a business plan to present to bankers and potential investors.
On a brighter note, I finally met my hotel consultant in person today (he's a former Austinite but now based in Colorado), and we're definitely in sync in terms of our thoughts on the hotel-market opportunities in Austin. He's putting together a market analysis, feasbility study and some pro formas that I can use in developing a business plan to present to bankers and potential investors.