Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 14th November 2011
*Cojones, bandwagons and overseas property
We missed out “bandwagon armchair investors”!
Looking back, our analysis of the investment market was an over-simplification. The truth is sophisticated property investors rarely touch overseas property these days. A truly sophisticated investor cares about two things:
1. Return on capital employed. How quickly can they get their money back? If you are a fan of British TV series Dragons Den, this is what the Dragons’ frantic note taking is about.
2. Control – How can they tip the odds in their favour by using their knowledge, expertise and existing commercial (usually local) infrastructure?
The editors’ of the biggest UK property investment magazines stopped writing about overseas real estate years ago. Sophisticated investors don’t care about overseas investment deals because they can’t control them and even though the yields may be good, it takes too long to get their money back (compared to refinancing a below market value deal in the UK for example).
Armchair Investors
The good news is there are many more armchair investors than sophisticated ones. There are not many good places to put your money these days and property is seen as a safe bet, especially if its hands off and you can trust the company managing the investment.
The adjective “bandwagon” is rarely applied to “armchair investor” in 2011. If you are targeting armchair investors, trust and credibility are everything. The biggest challenge and marketing cost is getting people to invest once. Armchair investors are sophisticated in their own fields but don’t have the time to invest in property full time. They are sceptical and hard to convince but once they trust you, will repeat buy.
Cojones – The short cut to trust
There are two main ways to build trust – organically through sourcing great products and establishing a good reputation over time (Assetz and Property Frontiers for example) or buying it through high-profile marketing.
Most people in the industry will tell you that expensive marketing activity like sponsoring football teams and full-colour magazine advertising does not work. I disagree. If you have big enough cojones to spend serious money, it works brilliantly. People are more likely to trust what is high-profile and familiar. “They must be ok, they sponsor x”. I mention no names.
A certain amount of profile raising is a cost of doing business when targeting this market but investors will often do well to beware the company with biggest and shiniest marketing. As Keith Richards wrote about Mick Jagger “Big cojones, small…..”
Source: Global edge
User Comments
All this is true but for any global investor - whether he be a canny professional or a just a dreamer - but the target country and its credibility is very important. Who will buy property in Greece just now with good value properties available in France? France will win every time: it is stable, politically sure and a core member of the eurozone.
Simon Oliver,
Gites à la francaise
Hi Ashley, or another way of gaining trust is to do a good job time and time again and eventually the word goes around. We are now benefiting from years of hard slog where we were working almost 24/7 making sure all our clients were looked after, answering calls emails night/day/weekend/holidays.
Neil Hollingsworth,
global property