Bob Jones Quotes
120 Bob Jones Quotes
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Some city dwellers will buy farms on the outskirts of cities in anticipation of future residential rezoning but with the added incentives of an interim income and an enjoyable weekend retreat. I can’t quarrel with this pleasure factor as only the buyers can evaluate that, but in terms of cold investment analysis it remains a poor deal for the reasons already outlined and in modern times no-one ever got rich farming in New Zealand.
Bob Jones
If it’s money you’re after then, no matter how much you enjoy stroking cows and chasing sheep, stay away from farmland.
Bob Jones
In the main centres there are a small handful of individuals who have amassed ten or more [residential] dwellings but they are not typical and the normal pattern at this stage is to sell up and move into the commercial property field.
Bob Jones
An individual investor who has been smart enough to make sufficient money to afford a major hotel is unlikely to suddenly lose his sanity and buy the uncertain package of trouble it represents.
Bob Jones
A property is only as good as its tenants and the rent that they can pay and it is simply amazing the wide variation in the merits and calibre of different retail locations separated by a mere fifty metres.
Bob Jones
I shouldn’t need to point out that it’s a far better thing to have prosperous rather than impoverished tenants and for that reason I do not recommend retail property for permanent investment unless there are very special circumstances.
Bob Jones
A successful retail business has a rub-off value on its neighbours which, when they thrive, reciprocate the benefit. The situation becomes self generating. But of course, the same principle also works in reverse.
Bob Jones
For appreciation, office buildings score highly and for prestige and security they easily surpass any other type of commercial property.
Bob Jones
The easiest money I have ever made from property has been in buying older industrial buildings, tidying them up and leasing them.
Bob Jones
Maybe the developer has made a million dollars; if so, God is in his heaven and all is right with the world. But more often than you might believe he has made nothing and has lost a good portion of his initial capital to boot.
Bob Jones
The process of carefully calculated borrowings can make an investor rich, no matter how small his beginnings, but unnecessary continuation of the same exercise can also result in his downfall.
Bob Jones
Good cash flows keep deals well oiled.
Bob Jones
I recall in my own early property development years feeling constantly puzzled that, the more money I made, the greater the financial pressure I seemed to be under.
Bob Jones
I cannot over-stress the importance of a cash flow and, in my case, I have made a policy of giving the permanent investment component of my activities priority…
Bob Jones
Practically every week there’s a bargain on the market with the accompanying explanation that the developer has his back to the wall and is strapped for cash.
Bob Jones
Treat your lawyer as you would if you were a sheepfarmer and the lawyer was the best of your sheepdogs. A friendly but firm hand, an occasional kick in the sides but never give an inch or they’ll have you for breakfast.
Bob Jones
Question everything. When your lawyer says something has to be done a certain way ask him why and you’re helping him as well as yourself. The same applies to architects, engineers, accountants and so on – there are no exceptions. … In any event it is a healthy intellectual exercise to sharpen your logic against your professional’s – both in business and as a hobby.
Bob Jones
Vigorous competition can drive men into dangerous pioneering practices in an effort to outscore their opposition.
Bob Jones
I firmly believe in the old cliché that travel is broadening and certainly you view life and events from a quite different perspective with the advantage of a knowledge of the outside world.
Bob Jones
Never make the traditional Chinese mistake of believing your country is the centre of the world – particularly if you’re in the property business. Arguably, it must be the easiest of any business to transfer from one country to another.
Bob Jones
Knowledge is undoubtedly the most valuable weapon in the aspiring tycoon’s armoury but, without wishing to be contrary, there are times when ignorance is, if not bliss, at least very useful. Just occasionally there can be advantages to ignorance, and usually deliberate and wilful ignorance at that.
Bob Jones
[On a larger New Zealand property developer that went bankrupt] J. B. L created an empire of people instead of property – and people cost money whereas property earns it.
Bob Jones
A good operator needs no other tools than a comfortable chair and a telephone. With no staff overheads to worry about and a job-by-job employment of outside professionals, he is free to vary his output in line with the fluctuations of both the market and his mood. If the market turns off so, too, can he, living comfortably off past profits or more desirably, the rental income from holding investments.
Bob Jones
In a shortage situation the strength lies with the landlord, rents rise and the development of new rental property becomes attractive. Very quickly a state of oversupply is achieved and rents find their lowest possible level.
Bob Jones
As any salesman worth his salt will tell you, the key to selling success is to fist identify the major impediment to a sale. The idea then is to come up with a solution that is not merely a counter but a rationale that turns the bad point into a positively one. The same applies with property.
Bob Jones
[In 1977] The big hurdle for real estate investment beginners today is the non-availability of loan finance. Turn it to your advantage and then buying will be easier than ever before because in times of high liquidity the newcomer can’t get a look in. Then there is so much money around that properties rarely come on to the open market and when they do they are snapped up by cash buyers at high prices and low yields.
Bob Jones
Times for smart investing have never been better. Go to it now. You may never get another chance and when you’ve made it, don’t forget to send me a cheque for all this superb advice.
Bob Jones
Writing is akin to having a conversation, but with the wonderful virtue that the author does all the talking – sheer egotism, in other words.
Bob Jones
[On him being a property investor and not a property developer] A property developer develops property; a property investor invests in property; a property trader trades in property. But for some reason these elementary differences are beyond their comprehension. Describing me as a property developer, as nine times out of ten journalists do, is like me calling them printers.
Bob Jones
Land [sub] division must look like easy money to outsiders, but on my observation most practitioners struggle. It’s an activity that seems to go to plan only in buoyant economic times, but even then it suffers the same drawback of property trading… [Not keeping the property].
Bob Jones
The short answer to the dilemma of the constant quest for financial security and a trouble-free existence lies in those golden words ‘cash flow’.
Bob Jones
It is cash-flow that the developer, the land [sub]divider and property trader never have. In the property world, cash-flow is the sole domain of the investor, yet further testimony to permanent investment’s superior virtues over the other property activities.
Bob Jones
[On comparing a property investor with others involved in property] A good analogy is to equate the investor with an orchardist who, having planted his trees, subject to responsible minor maintenance, picks the fruit forever after. The other property activities are more akin to market gardeners, who plan their seeds, nurture the crops and, all going well, sell the produce profitably, only to then have to start the whole process again. It’s also a damn good analogy in another, more negative, sense, because, as we all know, orchardists, and market gardeners, are subject to climate disasters, crop and tree diseases and the vagaries of the market.
Bob Jones
The prudent investor, who remains alert to the certainty of future economic storms eventuating, such as recessions, periodic developer-induced over-supply and unseen reefs in the form of sudden unexpected major expenditures, should sail through such problem periods without undue distress, simply because of this cash-flow benefit. And sailing through necessarily means owning quality buildings, ensuring excellent maintenance standards and tenant relationships, and whenever possible, negotiating long leases.
Bob Jones
Investing is more about being mindful of the past while trying to read the future than knowing today’s market conditions…
Bob Jones
The record worldwide shows that most economic forecasting get it wrong, particularly when making prophecies for outcomes more than a year away.
Bob Jones
The successful property investor must be both a historian and a prophet. He will begin mostly as a bargain-hunter and, being human, will naturally never forego any obvious bargains that subsequently fall into his lap. Bt he will not waste time seeking them out. Rather, he will concentrate on studying market cycles, paying particular attention to likely future supply/demand imbalances.
Bob Jones
Running a hotel is a highly addictive business, which is why masochists persist in doing it, notwithstanding the terrible financial thrashing they take.
Bob Jones
The old adage about the hotel business is that the third owner makes it work. What this means is that the two previous owners have gone down the gurgler, resulting in fire sales, until the hotel eventually reaches a price level so cheap that it will finally work. I don’t buy it. Hotels are a terrible business, even if they are given away free.
Bob Jones
The three worst possible businesses: forests, airlines and hotels.
Bob Jones
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