John Matsis

Building, brokering, Dad-ing

[Paula Pant @AffordAnything]

There's no freeze on property tax.

There's no freeze on the wages paid to landscapers, plumbers, electricians, drywallers, flooring installers.

There's no freeze on the cost of lumber, copper, baseboard, quarter rounds, flashing, siding, window treatments.

There's no freeze on the wages paid to janitors or porters.

There's no freeze on utilities -- on electric, gas, water, sewer (building-paid utilities in hallways, lobbies, maintenance corridors; most buildings pay water and sewer for tenants).

There are currently 57,421 units sitting vacant in NYC because it's more cost-effective to leave them empty than it is to rent them out.

If you're wondering: "How that could be possible? Wouldn't making anything be better than making nothing?" -- the answer is no, because of the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.

The HSTPA mandated a certain level of renovation for a vacant unit, but did not allow landlords to raise the rent enough to be able to recoup those costs.

If a long-term tenant moves out after decades, the apartment often requires $50,000 to $100,000 in lead abatement, new wiring, plumbing, and structural renovations.

Because the law heavily restricts how much of that cost can be passed to the next tenant.

The HSPTA eliminated the "vacancy bonus" (which allowed automatic 20% rent increases when a tenant left) and heavily capped Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs).

This means landlords who want a renovation loan would be rejected by a bank, because the landlord would not be able to show that they could repay that loan.

Landlords who pay out-of-pocket would end up losing money, underperforming even what they could get by putting their money in a U.S. Treasury or gov't bond.

Therefore, it's more cost-effective to just leave the unit vacant.

That's why we have 57,421 vacant units across New York right now.

That number is about to get much worse.

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

Viktor replaced my need for 3 different VAs. Got one running https://t.co/NymxWfBPKf (marketing sites and ads), another running ads to https://t.co/s9WvS0Kje9 for my brokering. Humanizes the whole coding and adtech stack. Really crazy. https://t.co/EeRBXQAFWi

[Sarvesh Shrivastava @bloggersarvesh]

I JUST CANCELLED MY $200 CHATGPT SUBSCRIPTION FOR CLAUDE. 

Claude ran my SEO for 30 days and added $25K in revenue. 

This is the exact prompt stack I used:

[Not Jerome Powell @alifarhat79]

Me entering 2026 with the same problems but a new calendar;

[Today in History @TodayinHistory]

Today in 1945, George Orwell published a devastating critique of Communism.

Animal Farm reveals why every communist revolution follows the same tragic pattern: liberation to corruption to oppression.

Here are 10 truths from Animal Farm Orwell warned us never to forget 🧵👇🏼

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

Since I find it so damn hard to find skin products for men that don’t have crap ingredients that screw with our hormones and probably cause cancer, I’m creating my own. I’m going to start with a few hundred units. Sign up to follow along as I do this: https://t.co/BhbRVFw9r3

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

@GovKathyHochul @grok please show the impacts of the FARE act

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

@GovKathyHochul LOL

[Chris Dixon @cdixon]

It’s time to pass bipartisan stablecoin legislation. The GENIUS Act will protect consumers and increase transparency--a significant improvement on the status quo.

We support any legislation that achieves that progress while safeguarding the core benefits of blockchain technology — empowering peer-to-peer digital economies to operate without intermediaries.

The bill isn't perfect and will require refinements to achieve these goals, but it is essential that the Senate complete its bipartisan work on the GENIUS Act.

Moving quickly on this and a market structure bill would provide long-overdue clarity for consumers and the industry so that we entrench dollar dominance and the U.S. remains the leader in blockchain technology. 🇺🇸

[Scott Walker @rstwalker]

We submitted our response to the SEC’s request for information about IA custody. We’re excited to see the SEC take steps towards offering guidance for crypto. Advisory clients deserve for their assets to be safeguarded, so we welcome concrete advice from the Commission.

[Chris Dixon @cdixon]

It was an honor to attend the crypto summit at the White House on Friday. The last administration chose to wage a lawfare campaign against good actors while mostly ignoring bad ones. The new administration is pursuing a much smarter approach: providing a clear pathway for entrepreneurs and innovation while ensuring strong consumer protections.

The most important development was the president’s announcement that he wants stablecoin and market structure legislation passed by August. Industries are built on solid foundations, and this is a critical step forward.

Transformative technologies like crypto and AI require us to separate their essence from specific uses and misuses. A hammer can build a home or demolish one; the question is how we maximize the good while minimizing the bad. Reactive approaches—like lawsuits and piecemeal rulemaking—create uncertainty and fragmentation. The internet flourished because of forward-thinking legislation like the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which created a cohesive national framework.

Today, we’re at a similar crossroads. With accelerating progress in crypto, AI, and other frontier domains, this is the time to craft thoughtful, comprehensive policies that acknowledge both the promise and risks of these technologies. I’m very encouraged by the bipartisan momentum and the administration’s commitment to ensuring the U.S. leads the way in this new era of innovation.

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

Feeling Zen today, might drink some tea.

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

The mountain doesn't announce its height. It simply exists in its truth.

A whisper draws people closer. A shout pushes them away.

Be a mountain. Your greatest power lies in restraint.

@matt_gray_

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

@diablotwosixtwo @ramit Huh?

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

@ramit

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

7/7 This isn't theory. It's exactly what we're doing with clients right now. And with still-depressed commercial property prices, now is the time to start.

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

6/7 Step 5: Scale systematically
Portfolio growth pattern we see:

Year 1: 1 property
Year 3: 3 properties
Year 5: 7 properties

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

5/7 Step 4: Reinvest cashflow

Rule of thumb: 60% of NOI goes to next property down payment

[John Matsis @johnmatsis]

4/7 Step 3: Focus on value-add opportunities

Recent win: Added 20% to property value with $50K in strategic upgrades