Method/Real Estate
Discipline III
Real Estate
What a property is, what it could become, and what it will cost to get there.
The Position
Read it before you buy it.
Most of the money in a property is committed in a few weeks — between the offer and the close. The inspection report lists what is wrong; it rarely says what it will cost, which of it matters, or what the land beneath it will allow.
We read a property the way a builder would before taking the job: what the house could become, what the lot allows, and what the work will realistically cost. Alongside your licensed home inspector’s report, we turn findings into a written opinion of what it will take — repairs, renovation, or a second unit — and roughly what each will cost. We do not perform home inspections.
For owners who already hold a property, the same reading becomes a plan: what to repair, what to reposition, and what the next ten years will ask of it. We are not brokers: we do not list, sell, or represent tenants. The engagement is the owner’s reading of their own asset.
Who This Is For
A Good Fit
- Buyers weighing an older home or small building before they commit
- Owners considering a second unit, a conversion, or a repositioning
- Small developers who need feasibility and entitlement carried by someone who has built
- Investors buying existing buildings who need a renovation cost before the close
Not A Fit
- Brokerage or listing services — we do not sell property
- Tenant representation — the owner is the client
- Appraisal or lending valuation — we read condition and cost, not market price
The Lifecycle
Acquisition Review
Condition, likely repairs, a renovation range, and what the zoning allows — written before the close.
Feasibility
The site, the utilities, middle-housing options, and the numbers, tested before anything is committed.
Site & Entitlement
Zoning and entitlement read from the owner’s side through approval; permits are filed by the architect of record or the builder.
Repositioning Study
What to renovate, in what order, at what cost, for what result.
Engagement
Retainer
MonthlyStanding advice through entitlement, or across several properties.
Scoped Review
Per propertyAn acquisition review or feasibility study, delivered as one written document.
Principal Hours
By the hourThe principal’s reading of a site, an inspection report, or a decision.
Terms are set out in the letter of engagement.
Every engagement begins the same way.
Begin The DiagnosticAdjacent Disciplines
What This Engagement Covers
Maison de Thu is a design and owner's-side house. We hold design, owner's-representation, and diagnostic engagement contracts.