The Mockingbird Team offers consulting & advisory services
for pursuing opportunities in the real estate markets.

Mockingbird Properties and their affiliates work with companies and investors who may have limited knowledge of the many facets of real estate valuation and construction. Whether contemplating an acquisition or investment, determining the true quality of the asset, evaluating and estimating the real rate of return, or dealing with problems that arise well into the development cycle, we have the experience to provide advisory services from the due diligence phase to crisis management of plans and projects. By understanding the entirety of a project, from concept to sale, we establish long-term relationships with clients to provide the necessary support so they can overcome challenges and move forward successfully. 

• Investor decided to play developer. An investor hired an architect to design a multifamily building near the UT Southwestern Campus in Dallas. The architect stuffed the drawings with drawings from another project in Denver. The investor could not read blueprints and assumed everything was good until he received a letter from HUD 221D4 threatening to sue him for fraud. This project was bid out by a General Contractor (GC) in Houston. When I was brought in, I realized within the first 3 sheets that the drawings were fake as the wall sections did not tie to the elevations. It got interesting when I reviewed the construction bid in that the GC should have known (did know) that the drawings were fake. The GC said nothing because they would have made a fortune on change orders. Under threat of fraud and jail time, I convinced the architect to deliver a full set of verifiable plans per 221D4 spec in 15 days and he agreed and performed. The GC was fired and replaced.  This investor had money, and I know this because he was one of my investors back in Canada and in a project here in the US.  What he did not have was any development experience. He gained a whole new perspective. This multifamily project was his first and last development on his own. He partnered with a few other investors, and eventually, the completed project was sold.

• An Investor wanting to be developer (no experience), bought a site in Gainesville Texas, north of Denton. The intent was single family development. Mockingbird was asked to consult on the project and in quick summary, the land was next to an active railroad track with gates and the land was contracted to purchase at 4 times its real value as if industrial land (reasonable use) and live earnest money was delivered to the Seller.  We found a default of the Seller in the contract and recommended the immediate termination of contract and receipt of the earnest money back. This project would have been a one-way ticket straight into bankruptcy. 

• A large multifamily project that ran into very serious problems with a general contractor who committed fraudulent inducement, ended up being paid in advance of the work completed, threatened to slow the job down unless paid in advance, threatened to quit the job under made up theories that were not part of the contract. The GC insisted on “value engineering” the project which is code for engineering the investor’s money into the GC’s pocket. Changing the drawings at the expense of the guest / resident experience is not acceptable.  But for the Consulting Engineer / Architect, Attorney, and Mockingbird, this project would have gone bankrupt.

• During COVID the owner of a large 384,000 sq. ft. retail center lost 7 restaurants within 60 days of each other. The concern was not being able to pay the mortgage. I was able to examine the history of occupancy and revenue stream, look at the terms and history of the restaurant tenants, and create a workout for the Owner and the Lender wherein the Lender agreed to freeze the mortgage payments, extend the mortgage, put the payments on the back end at a reduced interest rate, and provide a side account of $575,000 to be used to get the restaurants back up and open as soon as possible.  The project continues to be successful.

• On behalf of an investment group looking to make a purchase of several land parcels in South Dallas, Mockingbird was asked to analyze the acquisition. The theory of the Seller who had assembled several sites, brought in JPM to finance the land, convinced the City to zone the land higher density, and convinced HUD 221D4 to provide construction loans at the appropriate time, made sense. The problem we discovered was that the dimensions of the sites were physically not capable of holding the density.  You can’t take a narrow townhome site designed in the 1920’s shotgun style and increase its density to 60 units per acre as such density will not fit and can’t be parked.  This is a case where everybody in the chain, including developer, architects, engineers, City, and lenders, all wanted to believe that the uses and concept made perfect sense, which on its face, it did.  No one in the development chain had high density experience. As a result of our construction experience and walking the different sites with plans in hand, we quickly saw the glaring issue. Several months after we suggested to the investment group to stay away from these sites, the story was that the two lenders ended up foreclosing on several sites. 

• There was a similar situation where Mockingbird was asked to be a buyer of a multifamily site near Presbyterian Hospital.  This site was being developed by a large oil company which as it turns out had no person on its team with multifamily construction experience.  In the board room at the oil company, my Engineer and I overlaid their multifamily plans on the site plan, and in order to make the buildings fit to create the density, the units were designed in the shape of a piece of pie.  When we explained to the people in the Board room, that the units would not be leased, they turned white as a ghost. It turns out that the oil company partnered with a developer from California and he stung the oil company. It gets worse. The City of Dallas had backed the project with a $10.6 million check for infrastructure. Approximately 8 months after we met in the Board room, the project went back to the lender. The story is that the loss was roughly $80 million.  The land was broken into pieces, re-configured, and eventually several different projects were built. The land was viable, but the initial team / ownership did not have the experience to create the concept.

• Mockingbird submitted a report to the City of Dallas, and then reviewed the report at the Board of Adjustment, in a public hearing, with regard to a proposed hotel which Mockingbird clearly proved was complete nonsense from its inception. Every person including zoning consultants, architects, engineers, designers, were being paid by the Owner and not one of them understood that what they were involved with was doomed before the shovel was in the ground. Mockingbird wrote the report on behalf of a group of Owners who knew this was going to be a problem. After approximately $53 million in costs, including construction of a sub-level parking garage and erecting 8 of the 12 stories of steel frame, project was halted and the site was put on the market, selling for $3.7 million in May 2023. If the Owner had been willing to listen and put his ego to the side, he would have saved himself a lot of money, in this case, over $49 million. The reality is he created a nuisance for the community and this story may not be over. 

• For many years, the market had low-interest rate financing, and this caused people to do stupid deals based on this cap rate compression. Looking at the method of financing, cost of financing, cap rate on cost, and analyzing a realistic vacancy factor, to us at Mockingbird, we see that many projects are in fact negatively leveraged, meaning they built on 4.5 to 5 cap (real income) and the cost of replacing that debt is hovering at 10%. In this situation all it takes is a further 2% increase in vacancy above industry standard and the project is effectively bankrupt, or it will require capital calls and additional equity brought in to offset the increased cost of debt. This becomes a workout situation. Because of our background in statistical probability and quantitative finance, our models are built to examine break even analysis based on the probability of an event, on a line-item basis.

As you can see from the above, anything can go wrong, anywhere along the concept, development, or investment chain.  Regulatory, Pre-Development, Construction, Operations, Labor, Materials, and all the people, reports, schedules, costs and methods of financing within these activities, in addition to the business risks, can cause a cascading effect that may not show up until it is too late.

What drives the Mockingbird Team is a maniacal focus on best practices.    As an adjunct service to our Development Consulting, there are situations that arise for a highly customized approach to property management and our mission is to secure and understand the asset, determine how to best create an exceptional environment for residents, guests and tenants. We quantify, then create a unique value proposition of each property, and then custom tailor the hands-on personalized management  services on which the plan is executed. 

Mockingbird has established a successful track record of development, adaptive re-use, and repositioning. As part of the initial property analysis, we bring value, fresh ideas and creative designs to each property in order to maximize marketability and thus the guest experience, while maintaining low-maintenance costs and energy savings. Our management team has specialized expertise that extends to site design, landscape design, exterior materials and finishes, interior floor plans and finishes, and lighting. 

Mockingbird’s broad-based experience is what makes the difference!

If you have concerns, and need a sophisticated, experienced, quantifiable voice of reason, we can help.

About Mockingbird, CEO, & Team

We see things through a different lens. As a 35-year builder developer investor, with a background in statistical probability and quantitative finance with a professional well-seasoned team of Engineers, Architects, Accounting, Interior and Landscape Design, who’s experience is extremely broad and successful, we have been asked on many occasions to assist and consult on projects for other developers that needed execution or planning assistance, general contractor assistance, aid in contract negotiation, along with helping projects that had made mistakes which required crisis management and or workouts. 

In having the diverse background in real estate projects, from retail centers, subdivisions, multifamily (urban, suburban, high-rise), single family homes, and townhomes to heavy industrial, light industrial, and adaptive re-use, Mockingbird has a wealth of knowledge and experience. And the reason for Mockingbird’s success is that with all our projects, we see things through the lens of advanced risk mitigation, and we live our lives in the extreme details. Risk mitigation starts with a good project concept and design, while simultaneously, building a quantifiable proforma. Without a solid foundation the greater the probability the project will suffer both in the short term and the long term.

Many developers get an idea, hire an architect or designer to plan the idea, and once in motion, realize they missed the market niche, missed the amenities, and did not execute the plan with a proper team.  Architects and Designers draw, but they are not attached to the economics of the project. In most instances they have never built or financially participated in what they design.  Many “experts” involved in the development process such as appraisers, packaged demographic reports, market studies, brand standards that are edit copy edit paste, ignoring the fact that every project is different, are all just problems that become evident when it is too late.  Many developers, whether new or advanced, lack the thought process to ask the questions “what if” and “is there a better way”.

There are thousands of details along the development process and everything we do at Mockingbird, from concept, to proforma, design, construction, management, and sale, is a study in probabilities and thus, risk mitigation. 

Attorneys cost a lot of money and become necessary as a result of bad planning and bad execution, including, and during the construction process. Do the upfront homework to mitigate the problems later. 

In addition to our own projects, we enjoy interacting with entrepreneurs.  Using the models and experience we built over our career, we created another model, that would allow us to work with small, mid-sized and large developer entrepreneurs and executives that need experienced talent on an as-needed basis.    

As trusted advisors to developers, investors, and lenders, we can help solve the most complex real estate issues. 

Experience

One should never underestimate the importance of experience.  AI doesn’t have experience, and it doesn’t have the ability to manage the multiple levels of people that are involved in the development workflow. Having an experienced interim CEO, co-CEO, with in-house capability, who has the confidence and ability to deal with short-term problems as well as the vision for long-term growth and risk mitigation along each step, is what our experience brings to the table.

Instant Availability

If you were to search for a full-time leader, the recruitment process could take months. We aren’t saying you should stop the process; we can fill the gap while you search for the perfect fit. It doesn’t matter whether your previous CEO/developer has left, or you just need to expand the management team, or bring new ideas into the equation, we can act as an interim CEO, co-developer, or consultant, that will keep the business steady and plans moving forward.

ROI

Mockingbird acts just like a regular CEO but with a different skill set. Without worrying about severance packages, extensive contracts, benefits, and everything else that comes with hiring permanent management, you’ll have access to the very best talent. No bureaucracy can walk through the door and start offering a return on the investment immediately.

An Agreement Based Around Engagement

Mockingbird is not just a consultant. You are accessing the power and brainpower of boots-on-the-ground operators, who have a wealth of experience working with companies where needs are varied. We don’t like big reports that end up lying on the table that never get executed. Our business assessment provides clarity, correcting current issues, and implementing a plan that will get results quickly because in stressful situations, every minute counts.

Mockingbird offers swift stability to a company’s team and its operations, as well as immediate comfort to its Board and Investors.

Our model allows us to assist from any starting point within the development company.  Why waste time and money when you can hire Mockingbird who has already learned the valuable lessons you need now.

Contact us and set a time for a confidential discussion.

Mitch Vexler

mitch@mockingbirdprop.com

214-725-9013

To find out more about Mockingbird,
visit the ABOUT US page.