News and Thoughts
Thoughts on the Real Estate market and beyond.
The Myths of the Media
03 May 2021Joseph Goebbels said that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth. And for some time now, and magnified by Covid, we have seen that happen in our media with regard to the concept of working from home – or “WFH” as the media likes to call it. Possibly because… Read More
The Productivity Problem
03 May 2021The Productivity Council recently issued a report saying, in brief, that the productivity of leading companies in New Zealand is on average less than half that found in the top companies in other small advanced economies. And we can quite believe them! And that conclusion… Read More
New tax rules to impact sale negotiations?
03 April 2021Legislation currently before Parliament, and likely to be passed later in the year has the potential to add another layer of complexity to price negotiations for commercial property sales. Under the proposed legislation the price allocation (of improvements compared to the overall… Read More
Wherefore art thou Marketplace?
03 April 2021In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks “Wherefore art thou Romeo?“, and later in the same speech laments “Sober or drunk, still fooles, that shall know nothing”. There are times when we feel almost as confused in our predictions of the future direction of the industrial… Read More
It ain't over until the fat lady sings (colloquialism)
03 April 2021The colloquialism says that the show isn’t over until the Fat Lady has sung. But is the show really over? Industrial Real Estate is a show that is ongoing. Properties go under contract, with due diligence, and agents are only paid their commission if the deal goes unconditional.… Read More
Avocado and Lemon Juice
03 April 2021To bring out the real flavour in avocado, you need to add a little lemon juice. And I am told that it’s not a real hot chocolate without marshmallows. A supermarket stocks basic essential items as well as luxury products. It’s part of the service to stock bread and milk as well… Read More
Adaptation of the species
03 March 2021On a recent Saturday morning I ventured out to run a trail. It had been some time since I had run this particular trail. But as I ran into the bush, the environment reminded me as to why I should run it more often. The whole trail is incredibly scenic. It follows a river – upstream,… Read More
Street Smarts v. University Learning
03 March 2021The team at Expedio have a variety of learning experiences that they bring to our sector of the property industry. Not all learning comes from the formal setting of an institution. Often learning comes from life experiences, and collectively the team has plenty of those. Amongst… Read More
Marketplace 2021
03 February 2021Already we are a month into the new year, and there are patterns emerging. Whether they continue is anyone’s guess, but here are our observations from our time back in the office this year. Interest rates are continuing to be a dominating factor. As fixed term deposits… Read More
An Agents Role
03 February 2021The cynical would possibly contend that the role of an agent is to interpose themselves between buyer and seller in order that they can take a commission. Of course we would not say that. But we do often ponder what the role of the agent should be. We are well… Read More
Time for Time Out
12 January 2021We thought about the government’s promised upcoming inquiry into supermarket pricing. Which of course lead us to conclude that it will be about as useful as their inquiry into the fuel industry. Simply expensive posturing. But we all know that there is a real problem with supermarkets..… Read More
What's the problem?
12 January 2021In our interactions with potential clients, first item on the agenda is identifying what their problem is. Because every client has a problem – and identifying that problem helps us to avoid taking a wrong path, and take the appropriate path. The client may not… Read More
The death of customer service
12 January 2021For most of us, it’s all about the long term relationship (and therefore the long term revenue) rather than one individual transaction. We have a contract for mobile phone service. We subscribe to a magazine, or app, or satellite TV, rather than buying individual magazines or individual… Read More
And more reflections
03 December 2020It’s that time of year when we look in the rear vision mirror, and get just a little philosophical. Aside from the obvious impact of Covid 19, there have been other aspects of the industry that have made more than a passing impression. Whatever the sentiment in the market… Read More
The year that was
03 December 2020As we look back on the industrial property sector of 2020, it is with very sobering emotions. Worldwide millions have lost their lives due to Covid 19, and for most others there has been major upheaval in their lives. In New Zealand the major lasting impact has been economic.… Read More
Market Comment Nov 2020
02 November 2020The argument has been well made by those with more learning than we have, that the primary long term impact of QE (money printing) is increasing asset prices. Well meaning as the concept is, to increase economic activity by pumping more money into a struggling economy, the reality… Read More
The Case for a business licence
02 November 2020Experiences over the course of 2020 have convinced us that there is a real case for requiring people entering the business world to have to acquire some training and a licence of competence in advance. We are well aware that just having a licence does not ensure competence.… Read More
How Contracts Work. Or Don't.
02 October 2020I’m no lawyer. But from experience of negotiations and contracts I have evolved some theories about the way contracts work. And often don’t. A contract is an agreement between parties. Often it provides for a ”worst case” scenario of provisions for what happens when things… Read More