Since I arrived in Romania, back in 2004, the first thing I wanted to identify was people’s psychology in every part of their life, shopping as well. In a declared poor country, I was surprised to discover that people’s trolleys were full. Throughout the years, Romania’s growth was visible in supermarkets as well. In 2008 the trolleys were not only full, but also contained very expensive content. And then crisis brought us back. Today we are probably at the levels of 2005 – 2006. I continue going to supermarkets, studying the prices, trying to identify what their selves say about consumers’ life. In [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]Top 5 behaviors of 2009The “large” broker
Article published on 18.01.2010 Last August was hot, as always. In Greek we say that “the flies are fat” and noone works. Noone? Not exactly, you could see a crazy guy, dressed with suit and tie walking from one meeting to the other, trying to sort out things and finish pending tasks before his own vacation. I (the crazy guy) had just finished a meeting at Hilton and walked down, crossing Calea Victoriei. I entered strada Luterana heading to my destination. On my left hand I was looking at the famous “Cathedral Plaza” office building project, on my right I was watching the waiters preparing the [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]“Miss, 39 years old, searches (only) for serious relation”
Romanian Real Estate market, Autumn 2010 After the Second World War and the civil one that followed, Greece was a poor, destroyed country. Some Greek movies, comedies, were offering few moments of happiness to people. The most popular ones were describing / criticizing the society’s habits, perceptions or prejudices. In one of these movies the most popular Greek comedian was trying to help his sister get married (Greek brothers had to wait their sisters get married first and then they “had the right to” marry as well). She was around 45 – 46, looking like 50, with good manners and many other [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]Romania: A… “renovated restaurant”
This article was published on Insight Tarom Magazine and on 26.01.2010 on the blog Let us compare investing into Real Estate with eating at a “restaurant”. After Romania left Communism behind, the venue was like an old, abandoned communistic “place to eat”. Things improved, but really slowly. Only at the dawn of the new century the improvements started being noticeable, attracting more clients. So we could eat here, being sure that we will not be poisoned (lose our capital). While the country was moving forward, the connection to European Union boosted the interest of people (similar to say that [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]The perfect trick: “1 golden coin for 1 coat”
This article was published on 18.05.2010 100 years ago, there was a town. Commerce was going well and everything was normal until one Monday during September someone new in the city appeared at the central square and announced: “Whoever brings me one coat, I will pay him with 1 golden coin”. That time a coat’s price was maximum the equivalent of 0,1 golden coin”. People were confused, but some of them returned soon with a coat. They were curious to see what will happen. The unknown man paid them, 1 golden coin for each coat. The whole town started discussing about this. 50 coats were sold… [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]The fish in the box
Filed Under: Uncategorized on Sep 23, 2010 @ 7:07 AM
A Real Estate trick we are always ready to pretend that we don’t know… (part 2, to read part 1, please press here) Viorel sat down at his home. What had he bought? A dorada fish in a box… some photos and some measurements… “Isn’t it too much for just a fish, which is already about 2 months old?” his wife Anca asked. “No, you don’t know about investments” he replied. He searched and found some “super duper wow bow exclusive” intermediars… guys who had “relations to people with money and they just discuss with them for super offers”. He gave the mandate to sell the fish to all them… [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]The fish in the box
Filed Under: Uncategorized on Sep 22, 2010 @ 11:43 AM
A Real Estate trick we are always ready to pretend that we don’t know… Part 1 One day Ion had 50 Euro available. He was hungry and went to the market. There he chose a nice fish, a dorada (let us assume). He shot photos of it, measured its weight and size and then put it in a box. He went back to his home, but he did not eat it. He watched the news and heard that “too many people seem to be interested in eating Dorada fishes and prices increased since the morning”. This is why he remained hungry and waited to see what will happen. In 3 days Tudor knocked at his door: “Ion, I saw you few [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]Models becoming Real Estate agents!
Filed Under: Uncategorized on Aug 29, 2010 @ 8:54 AM
Crisis, problems, stress… so let’s try a new… “business model”! (Sunday – our relaxing day) I heard the news at the other side of Atlantic ocean and I found it really interesting! Some Real Estate agencies appeared having hired models as Real Estate brokers and consultants! Now you might ask me: “And what kind of expertise do these ladies have?” Surprisingly, many people can contradict you that they have the same with a (not big) part of typical Real Estate agents in Romania. You can check the reportage here: Can you imagine the same trend to come in Romania? If crisis continues [...]
[relevant-to-adsense]
Few days ago, on Tuesday, I had presented to you an interview of Mr Gavin Ryan, an expert in Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. As far as I understood from your feedback, this subject was really interesting for you, as the official information about this segment is really limited. This is why I decided to address to Mr Ryan again, summing some of your questions and adding some new ones. This domain is really interesting and I think that it worths to know ... 
