Editor’s Note: Welcome back to my blog! I’m using the everything-old-is-new-again concept to revive my once prolific blog. In this [re]introductory blog, I bring back one of my favorite blog posts from 10 years ago.
Where are all the renters going?
If you’re wondering when your apartment building might next experience the crazy level of renter demand the Seattle/Bellevue/Puget Sound Region experienced 2012 through 2019, you might ask this question.
Current conventional thinking is that COVID-19 unwound thousands of years of progress – towards urbanization – and workers congregating in urban centers.
Instead, work from home, a/k/a “WFH” is the thesis de jour for how society will work-live-play from here on out.
I’m not so sure WFH is our future. However, most argue against me.
What I truly believe is inarguable is a thesis I wrote about nearly a decade ago, which I termed The Importance of Saturday Mornings (link to that 2014 blog post).
That blog post was one of my most quoted blogs, and most resilient concepts.
Here’s a teaser:
“How one decides to spend their Saturday morning is a fantastic litmus test for demand drivers. Saturday mornings reveal lifestyle, hobbies and interests and can accordingly lead us, as an investment community, to a greater understanding of what to build and what to buy. In the end, we have a relatively singular focus, meet demand and attempt to maximize returns along the way.”
Simply put, people (renters) choose to live where they want to wake up on their Saturday mornings.
Why is discussing Saturday Mornings important again? (hint, it never wasn’t …)
Because I believe the broad investment community has it wrong with its overwhelming suburban thesis.
Yes, “working” remotely while fly fishing in Missoula was a great way to live-work-play in 2020.
Yesteryears traders and trappers are no different than today’s technologists. They need to meet, in person, and exchange their wares, or today – “ideas”.
Currently, a few outliers are forging an investment thesis back to urban centers and I very much believe they are prescient, and their countercyclical investments will prove profitable.
I invite you to (re)read my Saturday Mornings blog post and consider who you are targeting as a renter and where they will want to spend their Saturday mornings in the long-run.
It will lead to outsized investment returns!
About Dylan Simon
I specialize in the sale of 50+ unit apartment buildings and apartment development land across Washington State. Our Team of 10 apartment sales professionals is dedicated to helping apartment owners and investors sell and buy apartment buildings and development land from $1 million to over $100 million.