What are some due diligence best practices that every investor should undertake before investing in a Qualified Opportunity Fund? Chris Paganelli is a San Francisco Bay Area-based financial advisor at wealth management firm Stifel. He advises high net worth clients on tax strategy, wealth preservation, and portfolio management — with a recent focus on qualified … Read more
The long awaited second tranche of IRS regulatory guidance on Qualified Opportunity Funds will produce a set of principles and safe harbors that will give investors the ability to move forward. The best part? One senior Treasury official has said that they want qualified opportunity zone businesses “to sell to the world.” Daniel Kowalski is … Read more
What is the mood in Washington regarding the Opportunity Zones policy? And what should we expect from the second tranche of IRS regulations on Qualified Opportunity Funds? Jill Homan is founder and president of Javelin 19 Investments, a Washington DC-based commercial real estate investor, developer, and Opportunity Zones advisor. She testified at the IRS hearing … Read more
How can AI be used to improve Opportunity Zone investing? Former AirBNB executive Stefan Schimenes founded InvestReal last month with a mission to create the first data-driven real estate marketplace for Opportunity Zones, using AI to support investment decisions with data from numerous sources. Click the play button below to listen to my conversation with … Read more
Should the Treasury Department impose a community impact reporting requirement on Opportunity Zone investing? And what would a reporting framework even look like? Earlier this year, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, in partnership with Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, created the Opportunity Zones Reporting Framework — a guideline that defines best … Read more
Can blockchain technology revolutionize Opportunity Zones real estate investing? Security token offerings utilizing distributed ledger technology enables tokenization of assets, increased liquidity, reduction of costs, and improved transaction speed. And it has the potential to change how properties are sold and how deals are recorded. Josh Burrell and Lane Campbell at Activated Capital have an … Read more
How can real estate investing in opportunity zones create triple bottom line returns? And what are some ways we can measure the social impact of these investments? Loren Schirber is project pipeline manager for Minnesota Opportunity Zone Advisors, which recently started raising capital for their DREAM Fund. DREAM stands for “Developing Real Estate in Emerging … Read more
What will business investing in opportunity zones look like? Coworking hub and startup incubator Launch Pad may offer the best example I’ve seen so far. The husband-wife team of CEO Chris Schultz and president Anne Driscoll are on a mission to create the world’s strongest community of entrepreneurial workers. They believe in a world where … Read more
What types of opportunity zone investments are community leaders looking for? And what can local communities do to incentivize investment in their opportunity zones? Joining me on the podcast to discuss these topics and more is Erin Gillespie, principal at economic development consulting firm Madison Street Strategies and former deputy chief of staff for Florida’s … Read more
Who spoke at last week’s public hearing on the Opportunity Zones program? What did they say? And which topics received the most attention? There were representatives from a wide variety of stakeholders that testified at the hearing — local economic development groups, working groups from different accounting and legal firms, policymakers, nonprofit advocacy groups, economic … Read more