Hi from The Y-man

As in money returned, or as in Give Way?

 

I thought I might as well give a 2020 Covid Situation update!

Interesting looking at post #14 I was saying how bank shares had taken a belting with the RC and such - little did I know they would be belted even more Uh well....

The strategy had not - and has not - changed (much).

Some changes at the beginning of the year however (as Covid was becoming a reality in our midst) - was that we DID invest more into commercial property (despite what I wrote! ) - specifically the Charter Hall PFA.

Some might question pumping money into commercials at a time like this but my justification (to myself and the CFO) is that most of PFA's buildings are leased to government and big tenants (not Virgin HQ though ... that's the CH CLW fund).

The monthly cashflow from that fund has helped offset some of the damage from reduced rental income from our IP's as covid struck down jobs.

Overall during the pandemic, we've had 3 ip's go vacant and a housemate leave from 2 houses.

We agreed to lower the shared house rents - as there was no realistic way the remaining housemates could show get people in - and this remains the case as I write.

Of the vacant IPs, 2 have now been let (one at the same rent, one at a significant discount to prior), while one stays vacant. We look forward to better results as inspections are now allowed as of this week.

The other big financial impact at present is the dividends stopping from the banks and our 2 big shopping centre holdings - Vicinity and Scentres (Westfield). We hope that with the shops opening up in states other than Melb, rent will start flowing in again on that front.

Jobs wise we have been well looked after from Above - with my wife moving 2 years ago from a mining/resource sector company to a (wait for this...) biotech company (which is currently doing booming business!) and Uni continuing to have hours for me running classes online.


The Y-man

 

Another thing worth mentioning in 2020 - Cromwell sold the Rand Distribution Centre and distributed the profits to the unit holders.

We took the opportunity to pump the windfall into CH DIF4 for more industrial exposure.

The Y-man

 

Hi @y-man - any update for spring 2022?

 

Not much really.... it's mostly "steady as she goes" with pretty much no change investment wise since the last post.

All properties are now let (one coming up for change of tenants) thankfully, and shopping centres are busy again! Vicinity has had design permits for Box Hill go through, so that is an exciting thing to watch out for.

The share and comm prop portfolio continue to cover any holding costs for the resi props, as well as cover our basic living costs.

We did splurge and buy a brand new car (see cars thread ) and it was nice change to finally get back things like remote central locking, ABS, and cruise control (both of which I thought I could live without, but after 16 years without them.... the enjoyment was running thin).

Mind you, ever in the spirit of adventure, we got the absolutely cheapest new car that could still carry our light reno gear!

The Y-man