One Big Thing One of my blogging topics is narrative violation. A narrative violation what happens when a piece of data runs counter to a popular story or trend. The classic example of this was the whole “millennials never want to own homes or cars” thing that was making the...
February 22nd – Deep Thoughts
February 19th – Narrative Violation
What I'm Reading Narrative Violation: For almost a year now, there has been a popular media and financial industry narrative that people are leaving San Francisco in droves and pouring into Austin and Miami. However, a new report from the postal service based on change of address (COA) requests found...
February 16th – Flight to Paradise
What I'm Reading Flight to Paradise: With the northern hemisphere in the middle of winter and many regions still under pandemic lockdowns, wealthy buyers are more motivated than ever to purchase homes on warm-weather islands, sometimes sight unseen. I'm seeing this play out in real time on the big island...
February 15th – Straw Man
February 12th – Green Machine
What I'm Reading Green Machine: As if brick and mortar retail landlords and businesses don't already have enough cause for concern, a new study by the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab found a tangible environmental benefit to online shopping. In particular, the study concluded that carbon emissions from online shopping...
February 11th – Blunt Challenge
What I'm Reading Blunt Challenge: The number of marijuana stores in the U.S. is poised to grow in 2021 and 2022 as more states legalize the narcotic, the federal government toys with legalization at the national level, and already large sales chains seek to get larger. This despite often complex...
February 10th – The Great Migration
What I'm Reading The Great Migration: A new report from JBREC suggests that An estimated 400,000 households will move specifically due to their work at home challenges. This segment will be dominated by young families, who report frustration with the limitations (noise, space, privacy) of their current setup for remote...
February 9th – Hybrid Model
What I'm Reading Hybrid: Retail stores are increasingly adopting a hybrid model, whereby they accommodate both in-store shoppers and the fulfillment of e-commerce orders, creating a new asset class that sits somewhere between retail and distribution. This is likely to lead to major changes in the next few year. For...
February 8th – Dead End?
What I'm Reading Dead End? Distressed debt hedge funds raised billions to take advantage of COVID opportunities. However, the capital markets have largely recovered and junk yields have plunged, leaving them with few opportunities to deploy their dry powder. This is totally reminiscent of the Great Recession when capital raised...