The essentialness of self storage has been in doubt many times in the past due to its lack of institutional owners and widespread professional management. However, it’s stability in the Global Financial Crisis (or GFC) cemented its status as a defensive property type that can protect revenue losses in a recession, in spite of the […]

Commercial real estate has historically (and accurately) been described as ‘cyclical’, meaning there is a ‘reset’ at the end of every growth period. The reset has often come in the form of a ‘crash’, where the bottom falls out of pricing, and gains from the prior years are wiped out. As devastating as a crash […]

One cannot go very far in today’s information age without seeing someone on a mobile device. As applications are built for so many facets of our daily lives, the need for a higher level of and faster data only grows. Even back in the mid 2000s just before the dawn of the smartphone, the Blackberry, […]

We are continuing on our ‘Essential’ theme from the June 2020 Chilton REIT Outlook. For those who have not read it, we have developed a decision tree for determining how ‘essential’ a business is, and thus where an investor should be spending his or her time. As shown in Figure 1, it focuses on the […]

The word ‘essential’ has become very popular recently in its use by governing heads nationwide to delineate which businesses can remain open during the pandemic. A common definition uses the words, “…of upmost importance, something necessary or indispensable.”  We have been using the term long before 2020 in describing our portfolio, but today it has […]

While we have never been through an experience such as this, we do know that the first thing to NOT do is panic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and its devastating impact on the US economy, our research has focused on first making a determination of the best ideas in sectors that can withstand a […]

This publication is sent with a heavy heart to all those who have been afflicted by COVID-19 thus far, understanding that we are likely just in the first few innings of a sharp recession and medical crisis.  This experience should be a reminder of what is truly ‘essential’ in life, and we are proud of […]

Since becoming a state in 1959, Hawaii has been portrayed as a sunny beach vacation spot with palm trees and a rich cultural history. As with most things, reality is much more complicated. While it does boast some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (with top notch surfing), the rich cultural ‘history’ is […]

MLPs or REITs?  These two have been linked ever since Apache (NYSE: APA) established the first MLP in 1981 due to their above average yields and tax-advantaged status. Other than MLPs having a K-1 for tax reporting versus public REITs having 1099’s like traditional C-corps, both structures provide tax benefits and serve as yield alternatives. […]

What a year it was for real estate securities!  We are proud that we had the highest forecast for the year relative to prominent sell side research firms.  However, even our +12-17% projection came up short relative to the actual 2019 MSCI US REIT Index (Bloomberg: RMSG) total return of 25.8%.  As a result of […]