Method/Real Estate
Discipline III
Real Estate
What a property could become, and how it should run — both readings, held by one house.
The Position
Two ways to read a property.
Every property asks two questions of its owner: what it could become, and how it runs day to day. Most owners hold one of those readings and not the other — a developer fluent in entitlement who has never run a rent roll, or an operator who knows every tenant by name and has never tested what the land under them is worth building on.
The development track is the reading before money is committed: feasibility, site selection, and entitlement carried through the permit counter. We test the assumptions — the zoning, the utilities, the opinion of probable cost — before they become obligations, and we carry the entitlement work at the owner's side rather than watching it from a distance.
The operational track is the property as a running system. A building that leaks money does so in its workflows — the vendor nobody rebid, the maintenance done twice, the rent roll read once a year. We map how the property actually runs and rebuild its operating system. We are not brokers: we do not list, we do not sell, and we do not represent tenants. The engagement is the owner's reading of their own asset.
Who This Is For
A Good Fit
- Owners running property that leaks money without a clear reading of where
- Buyers weighing a ground-up build or a repositioning before committing capital
- Developers who need feasibility and entitlement carried by someone who has built
- Principals who want the portfolio read independently once a year
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 use and operations, not market price
The Lifecycle
Feasibility
The site, the zoning, the utilities, and the numbers — tested before anything is committed.
Site & Entitlement
Selection, permits, and the counter work, carried at the owner's side through approval.
Operating System
The property's workflows as they actually run — mapped, rebid, and rebuilt to hold.
Portfolio Review
The annual independent reading: what each asset carries, costs, and could become.
Engagement
Retainer
MonthlyStanding counsel across a property or a portfolio — the monthly reading, held.
Scoped Engagement
Scoped per propertyA feasibility study or an entitlement carried as one defined piece of work.
Principal Hours
By the hourThe principal's reading of a site, a lease, or a decision — by the hour.
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. We do not hold construction contracts, do not provide legal representation, and do not offer investment advice. When a project requires construction, we help our clients select and manage a properly licensed general contractor — we do not become one.