Sam Zell Quotes
110 Sam Zell Quotes
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Public REITs have a tremendous cost of capital advantage over private real estate owners.
Sam Zell
In periods where employees are tough to get, the big company has the advantage of creating a sense of security…
Sam Zell
[In 2002] You know, in Brazil, they sell hotel rooms to investors. They haven’t done that in the United States yet, but maybe somebody’s going to go out and buy a billion dollars worth of condominiums and rent them and then turn it into a REIT. I think there’s a myriad of possibilities.
Sam Zell
Usually it takes events. It takes something happening that creates an opportunity.
Sam Zell
[On the takeover of the Tribune Company in December 2007] The transaction from hell.
Sam Zell
[In 1991 about 1995] Stay alive until ’95.
Sam Zell
[In January 2010 on the difference between the real estate recession in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s and now] You couldn’t be more different. This time round the correlation was across all industries, all countries, all over the world. Whereas in previous times when realestate was the crippled one and the rest of the economy was doing okay, the banks could come in and foreclose and they did… Now fast-forward to now, first of all you’ve got pretend and extend, the lenders are not foreclosing. They are not foreclosing because they already have enough properties…
Sam Zell
Between 2000 and 2007, 60% of all the institutional real estate in America was sold. And all of it was overleveraged… So everybody who quote - bought during that period, to a large extent is underwater. So whereas in 1990 and even 1975 we were quote ‘Buying everything in sight’… Today you have a very different scenario. First of all you’re not going to have the banks going to foreclose. If the banks don’t foreclose… [Not big enough bargains]
Sam Zell
The bottom line is that anyone who can generate enough income to carry is literally not going to move.
Sam Zell
Ultimately, real estate is all about supply and demand.
Sam Zell
[In January 2010] I believe that everything that is currently vacant will release over the next 24 months, however it will do so at rates that are 20, 30, 35 % lower rates than the original quote ‘Asking rates’.
Sam Zell
[In 1997 on whether it made sense to own real estate in a public vehicle] Definitely not. Real estate shouldn’t be owned in public vehicles. [Several months later there was the IPO for Equity Office Properties]
Sam Zell
[On finding value in real estate] My own formula is very simple. It starts and ends with replacement cost because that is the ultimate game. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was the only buyer of real estate in America. [People asked me] ‘How could you buy it?’ How could I project yields? Rents? For me, it came down to these issues: Is the building well built? Is it in a good location? How much less than the cost of replacement is its price? I bought stuff for 30 cents on the dollar and 40 cents on the dollar.
Sam Zell
[In April 2003 on value in the commercial real estate market] The issue today is there are no deals out there. There is no one in trouble, no one hanging from the rafters or jumping from the windows in the real estate industry on the commercial side. Despite the fact that markets have softened and vacancies have increase, and cash flows are down, the real story is that leverage is down even more. Nobody ever went broke because their cash flow went from $2 million to $1 million.
Sam Zell
[In April 2003] Mobile home parks have the most opportunity. It is the greatest business since sliced bread.
Sam Zell
[In April 2003] You have too much money chasing too few opportunities.
Sam Zell
[On the book ‘The Aggressive Conservative Investor by Martin J Whitman] The Aggressive Conservative Investor is very much a value-added proposition.
Sam Zell
[In October 2012] I think the environment is tough and the confidence is low.
Sam Zell
[In October 2012] I’ve become somewhat of a pessimist. And anyone who knows Sam, the one thing that Sam has always been is the giant optimist. The bottom of every market Sam is buying stuff. And I had this ephiphany and I said the problem is if my assessment of the realities are such – then everything is massively too expensive.
Sam Zell
[In October 2012] Based on the fiscal cliff and all of the headwinds, the stockmarket should be 9,000 not 14,000. But the stock market is getting buoyed by QE 7 or 8 whatever number it is so we’re creating artificial numbers that I don’t think the underlying will support.
Sam Zell
I’m not a political prognosticator.
Sam Zell
[In October 2012] I don’t think increasing medicare is going to increase the growth rate of the country and create more jobs.
Sam Zell
[In October 2012] I think the last five years has been all about someone sticking a finger in the dyke. They didn’t solve the problem, they just stuck their finger in the dyke and we know that eventually the dyke’s going to go.
Sam Zell
A policy that doesn’t acknowledge reality has never succeeded in the history of the world.
Sam Zell
You’ve got to face up to reality.
Sam Zell
[In November 2011] They should rename the stimulus bill the ‘stick your finger in the dyke bill’.
Sam Zell
[On government spending in November 2011] 40 cents out of every dollar we spend we’re borrowing. That’s a prescription for disaster.
Sam Zell
[In April 2010] If the country isn’t growing we don’t need any more real estate. If the country is growing, we’re going to need more real estate.
Sam Zell
When there is no supply, real estate performs very well. Almost without regard, within reason to the economic conditions. When there is over supply, it doesn’t matter what’s going on real estate is going to suffer.
Sam Zell
When it’s all said and done – supply and demand.
Sam Zell
Liquidity = value.
Sam Zell
Understand the downside.
Sam Zell
Operate on the condition of no surprises.
Sam Zell
Look for opportunities with pent-up demand.
Sam Zell
[In May 2012] There are about 4 million houses in the United States that are in a kind of purgatory, meaning they are not foreclosed, they’re not current and they’re a mess.
Sam Zell
[In May 2012] I’m not as optimistic about the opportunities in the single family home business. Just about everyone I read about is starting up single family scavenger operations and gravedancer operations…
Sam Zell
[In May 2012] When it’s all said and done, nobody has been able to solve what I think is the core issue. And that is from an operational point of view, if you bought a 1,000 houses how do you operate them? How do you rent them?
Sam Zell
It’s about that kid in Holland who stuck his finger in the dyke…It’s a result of interfering with the market.
Sam Zell
[In May 2012 on the issue of potential contagion if too many foreclosed houses suddenly came onto the market all at once] How about if we go out and re-arrange the stars? And see if we can get them to realign? And maybe we’ll get meteors not to come by. We could sing Kumbaya together too… Isn’t it obvious? Talk to me about the success of what has been accomplished before!
Sam Zell
We live in a capitalist environment and every time the government interferes, with that environment it exponentially accelerates the problem…
Sam Zell
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