I won’t say that laziness is the sole cause of our current economic woes, but it sure appears to be a big part of it. Compared to our forebears, Americans have become fat (financially and physically) and lazy (financially and physically). \
When the original settlers came to America, they didn’t expect an easy life. In fact, they knew the odds were stacked against their very survival. But in order to achieve their goals, whether they be economic, religious, or political, they knew that their best chance was through hard work and the freedom to do so.
When the Colonies decided to revolt against England they knew that forming a new country would be hard work and costly in blood and tears, but it was worth it in order to make a better life for themselves and their offspring. Similarly, when the Great Depression hit, many were financially destroyed; some looked to the government for help, some took menial jobs, and a few saw opportunity.
What they all had in common though was a willingness to work their way out of despair. They were used to hard work and had expectations to match.
Today’s world is much different. When students graduate from college, for example, they have certain expectations—not aspirations! These expectations vary, based on factors such as quality of school, grades, and location, but the general expectation is that one will get a decent salary if one graduates. Lazy!!! Just because you finished four years of school does not mean you deserve a salary, let alone a job; this is supposed to be a time when real work begins, not ends.
Similarly, when the real estate debt market became too efficient, did people decide to work harder to make money investing in real estate? No. They created the CMBS market—an overly complex market designed to inhibit true due diligence. In other words, a lazy vehicle that would live and die based on the overall economy instead of the value of the underlying real estate. Lazy and dumb!
When computers made real estate analysis much easier and accurate, did most take advantage of this new tool? No. Instead, most took the path of laziness, and the industry coalesced around a single, homogenized program.
Increasingly, buyers, lenders, brokers—almost everyone in the industry—have come to rely on a single program when deciding the value of real estate. Rather than doing the detailed, hard work of creating, analyzing, and verifying an individualized model and facts, most decide to be lazy and base their opinion on a homogenous model created by someone else. It’s faster and easier, but it also serves to create a false confidence in the investment, as most are judging from the same set of flawed analyses.
Once our society began looking for the easy way instead of the best way to achieve our goals, we lost our core essence as Americans. We started to blame the banks, politicians, and the rich for our problems—while at the same time looking to those same groups to bail us out.
My suggestion: Look instead to the settlers, the pioneers, and our own ancestors who came to America with nothing but hope and the expectation that nothing worth having comes easy or cheap.
Caleb Smith is president and owner of Spire Realty Group LP. Contact him at [email protected].
