• The median asking price for homes in San Francisco was $1.3 million.
• Buyers need an annual salary of $172,153 to keep up with such mortgage payments (or about five times more than the median American income of $34,248 and almost three times more than the median Californian income of $63,783).
• The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,690 per month.

Official data is 'exaggerating' the risk of Covid-19 and talk of a second wave is 'misleading', nearly 500 academics told Boris Johnson in open letter attacking lockdown.
​
The doctors and scientists said the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic has become 'disproportionate' and that mass testing has distorted the risk of the virus.

They said tests are likely to be producing high numbers of 'false positive' results and the Government must do more to put infection and death rates within the context of normal seasonal rates.

A devastating analysis by Visual Capitalist shows just how much damage has been done (and is still being done) by COVID-19 and the lockdowns.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, employing nearly half of the private sector workforce.
​
“Unfortunately, lockdown and work-from-home measures brought about by COVID-19 have disproportionately affected small businesses—particularly in the leisure and hospitality sectors.

 “Small businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector have been particularly hard hit, with 37% reporting no transaction data.”

A prospective tenant might very well fall in love with a house or apartment before signing the lease. They may move in as happy as clam. But after a while, that sheen will wear off.
​
Soon enough, their only experience with their property manager and/or landlord, aside from basic updates, is that once a month you take their money. This, of course, is not the best way to win someone's heart.

The only other consistent contact you have with a resident is maintenance and it is here where you can make all the difference.

The gurus trying to sell their $10,000 course on real estate investing (or cryptocurrencies or drop shipping or Amazon FBA or day trading or some other multilevel marketing scam). For some reason, their "educational videos" usually have a Lamborghini in them. Maybe scenes from a Caribbean vacation, a few supermodels, an entourage of guys in suits with sunglasses walking decisively in slow motion. Someone's probably smoking a cigar (presumably Cuban).
​
It’s really rather sad actually.

I think we need to get back to a culture of seemliness, meaning “fitting or becoming with respect to propriety or good taste; decent; decorous.”

Perhaps add in a little humility, too. (This would go for real estate investors and non-investors alike, of course.)

Yes, we should announce our newest projects and celebrate our successes. There is a lot of nuance here and no exact lines. But I think the famous phrase “act as if you’ve been here before” is a good rule of thumb...
​​
...Trying to win approval by flaunting a wealthy lifestyle (again, real or imaginary) will always be fake and superficial. And doing so en masse hollows out our culture and builds resentment. Plus, those lifestyles are about as real as a seller-provided pro forma on a completely vacant 100-unit apartment complex.

1. The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber

Michael Gerber’s classic The E-Myth has my favorite anecdote about what can go wrong in even a successful small business,

“‘It’s seven o’clock,’ she said, wiping her eyes with her apron, as though reading my mind. ‘Do you realize I’ve been here since three o’clock this morning? And that I was up at two to get ready? And that by the time I get the pies ready, open for business, take care of my customers, clean up, close up, do the shopping, reconcile the cash register, go to the bank, have dinner and get the pies ready for tomorrow’s bake, it’ll be nine thirty or ten o’clock tonight, and by the time I do all that, by the time any normal person, for God’s sake, would say that the day was done, I will then also need to sit down and begin to figure out how I’m going to pay the rent next month?” 

The work can just go on forever and ever. It's for this reason that systems are so important. Build your business as if you were going to franchise it. Build it so someone can step into your place and take over the systems you have put in place right away. Putting such systems in place won't happen overnight, but it's what you should intend to create, step-by-step, from the outset.