Running At Space

If you watch the very best coaches (in any sport), you will notice their approach is more universal than tactical.

In attack, they talk about running at ‘space’ or putting a player in the ‘gap’. In defense, they talk about denying the opposition ‘time and space’ or shutting them down. These are universal laws and they apply equally well to rugby, netball, hockey, cricket, boxing, snooker, whatever. They’re the big rocks.

A tactical approach might be passing the ball to the next bloke who either pops it back inside for some other fella cutting in or slipping the ball the other way so the first bloke can do a wrap-around to pull off some other trick. Tactics may bring crowds to their feet but not all kids get tactics. Tactics are the small rocks.

Ironically, kids handle the big rocks better than the small rocks. And the good coaches know this. Of course, if you can coach both then happy days!

Shopping for Big Rocks
Good coaches are time and space specialists because they know that both don’t come cheaply. In business terms, time and space trade at a premium.

Off-field, consumers are beginning to realise the same thing. For about three decades now, we have measured distance in time. But now, the new yard stick is space. Everyone wants a big rock.

Consumers have started to run at space at an exponential rate and the demand is increasing. Consumers don’t just want little sticks with big bytes, they want car spaces, storage space, cloud space, and living space. They want space solutions and they’re willing to pay for it. They want to maintain their style and not have it cramped.

Space Invaders
In my opinion, there is a massive paradox at play here. Consumers are happy to pay a premium for space, especially self-storage, however investors have largely overlooked it because they’re so focused on residential property.

Self storage is just a box with a steel door. No plumbing, electrics, nothing. And if you think boxes are boring, what do you think JB Hi-Fi is? A concrete box made funky! Pump up the volume man.

The same applies to car spaces. I would much rather a slab with two yellow lines than a house full of stuff and other whatnot that eventually needs replacing. (And that’s not to take anything away from property managers because there are some excellent managers out there well worth their fees).

As for the numbers, a lot of car and self-storage spaces attract yields of 7-11%, some higher. And here’s the other thing to keep in mind, nearly all storage is dual purpose. I.e. because most storage has good ‘bones’ – slabs and columns – they can be easily converted into residential or commercial property if need be.

So if you’re hell bent on buying an investment property but tired of banging heads with thousands of other buyers, maybe you could try running at space instead.

Have a great weekend!

Adam

Back paddock – Thank you for all the great comments about ‘Farmhouse’ in last weeks Moowsletter. It was just a bit of fun really. I got some good recipes in return as well, especially from ‘Mad Matt’ (aka Rambo). Mad Matt lives in some town out in the sticks that has a name I don’t think the postman could even pronounce. Great cook though!

And thank heavens I did lamb shanks on Wednesday night too because the game was a dead-set fizzer. If the next game is like that I think I’ll flick it and knit myself a nice pair of socks or something. Definitely doing shanks again though!