SSS #310: ReConvene Recap

Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca

Droppin' off big sis to dance class so he can go to the park.

Reconvene Recap

I went all the way to Santa Monica, CA this past week to attend my first real estate conference since 2019.

I'm not being sarcastic when I say Moses and Simran Kagan put together a magical event.

A few thoughts:

1/ Price:

Reconvene was ~10x more expensive than any other real estate conference I've been to. I wanted to go last year, but sticker shock and timing held me back.

The various venues, food, transpo, gifts, etc. were top-notch and exceeded all expectations.

More importantly, the entrance fee acts as a hidden filter. Everyone [I spoke to] had an abundance mindset and shared information freely. Rare in these settings.

2/ Liminal Moments

It's clear they put a lot of thought into how attendees would experience the in-between moments.

As an introvert, I thought I'd get sucked into my phone between speakers and events, but I could have left my phone in my hotel room and not even noticed.

3/ People

Without naming names, there were some heavy hitters and silent assassins in the room.

Pretty much everyone downplayed their answer to the question, "So what do you do?"

Massive portfolios & teams combined with elite operations. Inspiring

I don't remember a single person who came off as self-promotional. I didn't have a single conversation where I tried to exit early.

On the contrary, I exchanged contact cards with a dozen+ people to keep the conversation going long after the event ended.

4/ Location, Location, Location

I was only there for 60 hours, but Santa Monica is pretty close to heaven on earth.

I biked along the beach and skipped Uber in favor of taking an e-scooter everywhere.

A perpetual 75 degrees and Sunny makes up for many other shortcomings.

5/ Speaker Line Up

There were 16 speakers across 4 time slots. Choosing only 4 rooms to sit in was impossible. I ended up sitting in 6, and still feel like I missed out.

My favorite session was led by the youngest(?) speakers, Donovan and Ben. They spoke (from a developer's perspective) about new legislation in California to address "the missing middle".

I can't wait to see these two implement a solution to the housing crisis in CA.

Total Addressable Market: 12 million (!!!) lots

6/ Bfast & Dinner Tables

Idk what type of sorcery they used for seat assignments, but I had a blast during breakfast and dinner.

I did major recon on the handful of people I sat with to make sure the conversation didn't run dry. That turned out to be a massive waste of time.

We almost missed the bus back to the hotel after breakfast, and dinner lasted 4(!!!) hours.

7/ Quotes:

• Fee-based buying is immoral
• Profit is what's left after taking care of the buildings
• Find like-minded capital
• Prioritize long-term thinking in the short-term

8/ Final Takeaway

I went to this event with one question in mind: "What does the next level look like for me?"

I'll have 6 new construction exits under my belt by the end of 2025. I already have 8 lined up for 2026, and I wouldn't be surprised if that number balloons to 12 over the next 3 months.

Do I want to go from doing 12 exits per year to 24? Or do I want to stay around 12 and layer on a mid-sized (30-60 unit) multifamily development?

After speaking with a dozen or so people who are much further ahead than me, I decided I'm going to keep a good thing going.

As I retold my story a few dozen times, I realized something: I quit my last job in 2014, and I've switched my investing strategy at least half a dozen times since then.

I finally found a model that works, and my first instinct was to switch strategies again. Old habits, huh?

The truth is Real Estate Investing is a game of marginal improvement with each repetition, and the spoils go to the person willing to put the effort in for a long enough time for the results to compound into something meaningful.

Charlie Munger once said, "The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily".

I'd be a fool to think I know better.

✌🏽