Tuesday 22 June 2010

If all you have is a hammer, you see everything as a nail...

There were some really good speakers at the Next Generation Conference and the message I took was that some important people genuinely want new blood in the industry.


Sir Don Curry spoke at the evening dinner about his campaign to get estates to retain a pool of land for new entrants. I have always thought that there have been many kind words spoken by many well intentioned people on the subject but my cynical side always suspected estates will only act if there is financial incentive. I still think this is true of most private landlords but the likes of the National Trust, the Crown Commission etc are genuinely putting new entrants as a priority. Even speaking to the factor of a large scottish estate recently lifted my spirits - they were very keen to attract new entrants. As someone trying to battle for rented land in a dysfunctional tenancy sector, you forget that some landlords are genuinely wanting to help young people on the ladder.


For me the conference was dominated by some great one liners. Quotes from the conference I particularly liked included:


“The Golden Rule is: he who has the gold, makes the rules.” To me land is the gold - the persuasion tactics of Sir Don and others plus the moral obligation of the best practice landlords is heartening. It doesn’t address the dysfunctional nature of supply and demand in land though.


“The two things that make an entrepreneur : Patience and Persistence”. Entrepreneurship was stressed as an important aspect new entrants can bring to the industry (gulp - must work on this). Didn’t know Walt Disney went to 139 financial institutions before being successful in getting a loan.


“If all you have is a hammer, you see everything as a nail” Not quite sure what this means but it made me think a lot. Lets think latterly and have more than one tool????


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