Edge Newsletter #10 - Next Steps
What I’m Reading
I’ve had Victor Frankl’s Man’ Search for Meaning on my ‘to read’ list for over 10 years. Given the intense topic, I’ve held off until now. I’m glad I finally got around to it. It was written by Dr Frankl a professor of neurology and psychiatry. He survived being held prisoner in a concentration camp.
A lot of it is about how the human mind behaves when pushed to the limit. One thing that struck me was how resilient humans could be when stripped of every single material possession linking to their former lives. Also, how prisoners still managed a grim sense of humour and camaraderie for every day they stayed alive.
How Dr Frankl surprised even himself at how much he and his fellow prisoners endured, things he previously thought impossible. Sleep deprivation, starvation, surviving in freezing temperatures.
It puts things in perspective. Next time I come up against a setback and that voice says I can’t. I’ll remember the lessons here.
Resource of the Week
A bit more of a controversial one this week, I wouldn’t recommend using this resource everywhere, just to exercise judgement. It’s a GitHub repository for a chrome extension to bypass paywalls to read articles on websites. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know how to code. Just follow the instructions on the bypass-paywalls chrome extension. It’s worked for every site I’ve used so far.
Quote
“To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Thoughts
So things have been a little quiet on the viewing front as of late. Admittedly I’ve caught up since I’ve had the offer accepted on the Derby property. I’ll be making a video on this. Stay tuned on TikTok. I plan to start posting more content to Instagram.
The plan for the coming months is to make one or two more acquisitions. Ideally, if the price is right my first choice would be a BRR project so I can document the whole refurb process. However, with the way material prices are and if the market is still too hot, it may be just another BTL.
It’s interesting, because I went to a Trends event on Thursday (a publication for entrepreneurs and startup founders), I always love these events as you get to talk to people in wildly different industries. What got me thinking, was there were people who had been real estate for many years but looking to diversify out. They didn’t want to reinvest large amounts solely in property. It seems the consensus for property is very mixed among investors. I completely understand. It’s difficult to keep on top of the raft of regulations that’s been thrown in the last few years. It’s already happening whereby the number of private landlords has reached a 7 year low.
I think it’ll continue to lead to a shortage in rental properties whilst property prices continue to rise. When the next correction finally arrives, I feel private landlords will liquidate and the stock acquired by larger corporations. So I think the future of the rental market will be dominated by large pension funds, build to rent companies and organisations like this.
For now, I think there are still excellent opportunities for people who are considering investing but it’s much, much more work than before just to stay on top of things. Depending on your expertise, contacts etc, in many instances it can be much more lucrative to leverage your time into something else. But few things still beat property in terms of stability and a low risk hedge against inflation.
As always just hit reply for any feedback, I read all emails. Have a great weekend!
Hans