Should we listen to talkback?

Driving to an appointment recently and experiencing the type of stop-go traffic which must surely sap a massive amount of Auckland’s productivity, I mindlessly turned the radio on. There are some stations I will listen to at some hours, and not at others. This was one of those times I won’t listen. The talkback host always has an opinion. And generally a prejudice. And most of the callers are worse.

But trying to avoid the driver beside me who was texting, and the one in front applying her make-up, I kept my hands on the wheel, and off the dial, briefly.

In that short time the host was venting on the subject of house and car insurance. He had no time for people who said they could not afford either. His view was that if you could not afford the insurance, then you could not afford the house or the car. This time I could not help but agree. Surely an integral part of owning a car is having insurance – in the event you damage someone else’s vehicle – or they damage yours. Similarly with a house. Surely insurance is financial prudence ?
Which started me thinking about owning investment property. We accept that insurance is an integral part of being an investment property owner. So surely maintenance of that property should also be considered an integral expense.

Yet so often it is not. In our travels we see numerous buildings suffering from the impact of “delayed maintenance”. Why we use euphemisms such as this I have no idea. Let’s not be PC about it. It really is neglect. It seems incomprehensible that we would own a motor vehicle and not service it. Without oil and grease and tuning it will surely seize up.Or at the very least perform below it’s optimum.Yet an investment property is generally an investment of far greater magnitude, and lack of maintenance will eventually have a similar impact, but at far greater cost.

Is it that owners cannot afford the cost of maintenance? According to our aforementioned radio host, if they cannot afford the maintenance, then they cannot afford to own the building. Or do they really think that you can milk a cow forever without feeding it? Or do they never visit their properties and simply don’t see the state they are in.

Whatever the reason, it is with dismay that we visit so many warehouses and factories which visibly exhibit “delayed maintenance”. Having buildings which don’t perform in the way they should must surely impact on productivity for us all.