All Forum Posts by: Dan Zambrano

Wow @Dan Zambrano, your story is seriously inspiring, thanks for sharing it. That moment of discovering Wright’s work in real life sounds like something out of a movie. Love how you’ve blended your engineering skills with your passion for architecture and are using real estate as a way to bring beauty into the world.

Also, huge respect for your service and your long-term vision, not just building wealth, but building meaningful spaces. I’ll definitely be following your updates.

I like the attitude and enthusiasm...I would have a few questions though.

Are you the only one who wants to build and design houses/buildings like an artist? Probably Not. Are there any other people currently prioritizing design over income/functionality (that isn't already a multimillionaire)? Again probably not. Why do you think that is? 

I think I am one of the only that is doing this. I have sought my type out for a long time in many corners of life and have honestly not found him/ her. My priority in design is rooted in practicality. Meaning I am very experienced on researching my market and demographic. In short, I know how to make the numbers work so that every one of my properties cash flows. I don't talk about this a ton because eveyone talks about it, and honestly to create anything sustainable that is a "win-win" the business acumen is table stakes, I have it.

No doubt these special architectural houses are more expensive to build. They are probably harder to work on, less functional, less efficient etc. Especially in this environment - higher material prices, higher interest rates, high labor prices...

This is true, but I am obsessed with finding the most economical and practical approach to beautiful design. An example of what I do not aspire to is I visited the Edith Farnsworth house in Plano yesterday. Gorgeous modernist cabin along the Fox river designed by Mies. for its beauty I believe it was grossly overpriced (costing $800k in todays dollars for a studio cottage!) AAAAAND impractical. The Fox river floodings are disastrous and unpredictable so even though the house is raised 5' above ground it has taken on water several times through the years, once notably the water line rose to an interior depth of 5' casuing hundreds of thousands in damage. I would not build anywhere near the Fox river, or anywhere I have not closely studied the environment over the span of years.

I do agree there is a luxury market - no doubt. I think part of that is straight consumerism and part of it is that you can't hardly build a single <200k house for much of a profit. You either scale and build 50 of them. Or you pivot to luxury where the profit margins are higher. 

Luxury market will be what I am banking on to make the endeavor sustainable. However for every luxury project, I estimate I will create 3 budget design-forward ones which I already have 5 of these under my belt.

I do like your attitude but I would seriously question the feasibility and long term success of this project. I think it makes sense to renovate existing buildings that you can buy under market. Once you build a base and have some breathing room then I would do want you "want" to do. 

This is the beauty of buying value add real estate for the long term. Most major cities have a huge demographic of tenants living in poor conditions (due to tired landlords) that are willing to pay a few hundred more per month to live in something akin to a mid-tier hotel. If the luxury endeavor fails, my fallback is value add investing and extrapolating 10-15 years I will still be in a great place.

Regardless, I hope you prove me wrong and I'll follow along

I like the attitude and enthusiasm...I would have a few questions though.

Are you the only one who wants to build and design houses/buildings like an artist? Probably Not. Are there any other people currently prioritizing design over income/functionality (that isn't already a multimillionaire)? Again probably not. Why do you think that is? 

No doubt these special architectural houses are more expensive to build. They are probably harder to work on, less functional, less efficient etc. Especially in this environment - higher material prices, higher interest rates, high labor prices...

I do agree there is a luxury market - no doubt. I think part of that is straight consumerism and part of it is that you can't hardly build a single <200k house for much of a profit. You either scale and build 50 of them. Or you pivot to luxury where the profit margins are higher. 

I do like your attitude but I would seriously question the feasibility and long term success of this project. I think it makes sense to renovate existing buildings that you can buy under market. Once you build a base and have some breathing room then I would do want you "want" to do. 

Regardless, I hope you prove me wrong and I'll follow along

@Dan Zambrano  extremely exciting news! Congrats on your journey, if you need any help on the way, we're here to help.

 Are you planning to cash out refi or sell this deal with the new tenant to finance the down payment of the 4 plex GUC or maybe do a 1031 exchange?

Quote from @Dan Zambrano:

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

 It feels like some modern architecture is made to despise the lower class. You will live in a cement box and be happy! I still never understanding how we build less ascetically pleasing buildings now than 100 years ago. People claim the lost crafts and etc. but with all this technology and money in real estate, we can easily manufacture and 3d print beautiful architecture pieces and masonry that are not load bearing to bring beauty back into the world.