Odious Comparisons

Not all comparisons are odious.

Property valuers couldn’t do their job without comparisons. To be able to produce a valuation essentially they have to line up the numbers for other comparable properties. On the other hand  the comparisons that occur as a result of too much attention to social media can be devastating. Much of on-line social media now consists of people trying to highlight what wonderful lives they have , to the detriment of the mental health of those who compare the reality of their own lives to the fiction presented on line.
 
What started us down the path of comparisons was a confluence of transactions a while back. One transaction was buying a new vehicle. This wasn’t the upmarket European motor of the type that when you are taking delivery you go to the showroom at the appointed time for an unveiling ceremony. It was Korean and very functional. Four wheels , 2 seats and a huge load space in the back of the van. In our search for a deal it wasn’t even totally new – it was a dealer’s demonstrator model.
 
The other transaction was the acquisition of a tenanted investment industrial building. The values were not comparable at all. The commission on the sale of the investment property  would have been more than the total cost of the vehicle. But, and this is not at all unusual for these transactions, the experience was totally different.
The vehicle salesman, even though I have been driving for more years than he has been on the planet, insisted on taking me through all facets of the vehicle and it’s operation. To be fair, there were things I learned which saved me having to dive into the 500 page instruction manual in search of guidance.

The property transaction was of course very different. The agent was no-where to be seen. And the specific operational aspects of the particular investment we had to find out for ourselves.
 
Which leads to the question – why is one industry so focussed on the customer experience after the sale (driving the vehicle) and the other industry is at pains to distance itself from the experience after the sale (managing the investment)?
 
Both industries are becoming increasingly complex. A motor vehicle can now almost drive itself. If you believe Mr Musk it can in fact drive itself. And that is largely a factor of the technology built into modern vehicles. Similarly, managing an industrial investment has become increasingly complex. And that is a factor of increased government regulation , a somewhat paranoid obsession with box ticking with relation to health and safety, and increased attention on the part of insurers to be aware of, and mitigate, their potential risk.
 
Whereas the motor vehicle industry embraces enhancing the user experience after the sale is made, the property industry seemingly does it’s best to ignore the user experience.  I would expect the vehicle salesman (and over 90% of the ones I have met have been male)  to know far more about the vehicle and It’s operation than I will ever do. Or probably want to.
Is it wrong to expect the property salesman ( over 95% of the ones I have met have been male) to know far more than I will ever know about the operation of an industrial property investment?
 
Perhaps it is time for the industry to step up and recognise that the world has changed and the industry is not now just about “selling sheds”. It’s a complex industry with a tangle of long term relationships ,contractual obligations and multiple parties. Unfortunately a sizeable number of those parties either don’t know their obligations – or choose to ignore them.

It’s interesting that one of the most maligned parties in the industry, insurers , are leading the way in showing leadership with their risk mitigation – to the benefit of both landlords and tenants. We can only hope that some of the other players start to take the customer experience seriously.