Love in the Time of Corona
When I wrote Breakfast with Anglo in early 2010 I had firmly fallen out of love with the property business. The market by then had swallowed me up and spat me out. Against this background, I sat down in the eerie silence of that Spring and I began to write my story. Writing is really about looking into your soul and that’s why I wrote Breakfast With Anglo. It was never about sales, brief moments of fame, money, or agitating the establishment. I wanted to find out what I truly felt, look at what really happened and work out how I had made such a mess of it all. The story was about the ups and downs, the big deals, the good and bad deals, and the buildings….lots and lots of buildings.
The pain of the crash was so deep that it took me many years to reconcile myself with it and to decide if and how I would re-engage…..and I did re-engage. The purgatory of Nama gave me the time to reflect on what I would do differently, and this 2020 correction is going to be a real test of all of these beliefs and principles
It’s a simple mantra….debt, debt, and more debt. Limit it, manage it, and avoid it.
Quality also pays and 84% of the rent roll in our new RQTwo portfolio is either government or blue chip corporate. Nothing beats quality.
Property in a time of Covid
We all live, work, and breathe property. It’s a vital part of every aspect of our lives. Most of us never consider how it’s built, to many, it’s just there, switched on, and silently doing its job, like the air we breathe. We walk in and out of it but never really consider the human endeavour behind every building. The miracle of steel, glass. and concrete that makes our modern cities. It's like electricity, but better. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, shelter and security are up there right after food and water. That my business….the property business and I still love it.
Even now, in the middle of this crisis, we need buildings to care for the sick, distribute the food, and to house the firms that will crack the code and deliver the vaccine. Buildings are a vital part of our modern society and this separates us from our past and secures our future.
Hotels become hospitals.
Offices provide the workspaces to beat the virus and rebuild the economy.
Universities train the next generation to be better.
Homes are our shelter, to house and protect us and our loved ones.
Every building will have many stories to tell from this crisis. They are the Oak trees in the forest.
Property after Covid
Post-Covid 19, Ireland will again take its place in the modern world. Our economy feeds Europe, and our technology companies will continue to grow and expand as the world gets increasingly digital. Young Europeans will flock here to work for Google, Facebook and Amazon. Everything that made us successful in January 2020, will make us successful again in January 2021. New modern buildings will always be required to meet the needs of our growing economy. More hospitals, more nursing beds, more homes and offices. These buildings will be based on the fundamental principle of investor returns and property will continue to be the best way to deliver these safe stable returns. As the VIX breaks through 80 in Chicago and stocks collapse, Property is doing exactly what it is meant to do. It's the Oak tree in the forest of flimsy paper assets. Debt-free, it delivers its returns year after year.
The HSE contacted us today looking for hotel beds to rent as hospital beds. That if nothing else shows the real value of real assets.