My lessons learned from "The Greatest Generation"

Continued from the November 20, 2007 Financial Digest edition of the New York Real Estate Journal. Lesson three: fences need built and grass needs mowed. I cannot remember a time when my grandfather wasn't in the midst of some improvement project on his farm. Towards the end, he could have just started taking every penny out of the operations and not improve anything. After all, he was in his 80s and would not be around for the complete life cycle of the projects he was working on. How many times have you known of a property owner that just "patched" big problems because they didn't plan on owning the property long-term? How likely are you to ever buy a property from them? I know of owners of apartment projects that just rob HVAC units from one unit to get other units ready without ever replacing them. Eventually, they have 80 rentable units instead of 100. That sounds like the equity reduction formula if I ever heard it. The point is that we as property owners or those counseling property owners must be diligent in maintaining the properties. If we do not, eventually our assets will be significantly reduced as will our reputations if we sell properties that have just been "patched." This is definitely a path to eventual failure. These are just a few of the lessons that my most significant connection to "the greatest generation" taught me. Unfortunately, he is no longer around to teach me more, but we as a group are blessed with some remaining members of prior generations. There is still significant wisdom to be gained from Jack Hunt, Paul Winger, Hunter Quistgard, Bill Warr, and others. These are just some of the people who forged a path for us to follow in "creative real estate" and they are regularly sharing their wisdom at our meetings. It is up to us to pay attention, learn and apply. Wesley Dingler, SEC, is a member of the Society of Exchange Counselors, Tyler, Tex.