Jon Lotter: It’s About the Kids – How Success and Fulfilment in the Real Estate Business is a Blessing for My Children.

On this episode, Kevin chats with Jon Lotter, founder and Managing Director of Appian Capital, a boutique investment manager that has invested in over 140 transactions deploying over $400MM of equity in $2.2B of real estate value. Jon's innate curiosity, tenacity, and intentional efforts have delivered Appian from startup to 20-year veteran player executing some of the stronger investment deals in the country. The conversation covers why larger deals pay more and you should do them, how conservative underwriting serves as a differentiator and competitive advantage, and how force majeure provisions are impacting GMAX contracts and cost containment. Jon discusses what it looks like to be opportunistic and seek the best deals throughout the investment cycle, how to narrow the target and shoot at less, and why co-mingled discretionary closed-end funds are fundamentally mismatched to real estate investment. They explore why being able to pass on deals forever is a competitive advantage, the "first who, then what" philosophy of prioritizing the developer before the project, expecting headwinds and being happy when they don't happen, how fulfillment and success serve as blessing role models for your children, keeping it simple because it isn't that complicated, and being intentional with what you do to stay on track.