MIPIM. Days 2, 3 and 4: We do have clients Do we also have the right product for them?

Friday, March 13th, 2009

In few hours I will be traveling back to Bucharest (via Paris). Today the exhibition ends around 12.00 – 13.00 (workers will start deconstructing the stands after this time) and MIPIM 2009 will be history in few hours. I am writing these lines being inside the exhibition, while we have started packing our boxes… (with the usual unnecessary materials and editions I collected from all around, bad habit, I can not stop it…)
To be honest, I expected more people to come all these days… The second day was almost like the first one, not even 10 meetings. The third day was better, it reminded me a bit of last year. Today we just came ‘for the pride of our weapons” (a Greek expression), we will have either one or no meetings at all.

Clear message for the ones who want to understand it
The message I transmit to you from here is one and clear: Clients do exist! I met several ones, more than 15, who really check the market and search for opportunities to invest. I didn’t meet over 100, like last year, but these people were really serious, interested in Romania and DETERMINED. Due to the “not busy schedule” (so as to describe it politely), I had the time to invest in each discussion and I can assure you that the ones who want to invest now, know better than ever what they want, where and in what price.
The question is how many of us are able to understand the new market’s situation. For example, when the yield of an office building in London or Paris today reaches 7,5 – 8%, how can we tell to an investor “come to Bucharest for 7%”? “because my project is better, has this, that” (or God knows what)? How can we justify a price close to the old ones of 2008, when the entire world has adjusted to the new prices?
The investors are here, less than before but also more serious and more “experts” than the ones of the past. Are we going to respect them more than the past? Are we going to explain to the owners that they can not wait anymore “the moon and the stars” so as to sell a simple property? Do they want to listen?
I really don’t know, I hope they will. Not because I am the bad one, who waits to buy properties for nothing. But because if someone does not have other resources and he just waits to sell a property for a fortune and not to work again, he is more likely to lose the property too, instead of selling it for a bit lower (but more real) price and secure the future of his family and his personal one.
Cannes gave me a clear message. No one is willing to invest on bubbles, promises and theories, like many used to do in the past. The investors exist, they will be more in the near future, but now they DEMAND seriousness, respect, transparency and honesty. Are we ready for adopting these new (for the majority of Romanian market) virtues? (Next week: Memories from Cannes and some of adventures here…)

MIPIM. Days 2, 3 and 4: We do have clients Do we also have the right product for them?

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