While I was \u2026 raped again (paying for gold each and every extra kilo I had in my luggage), my brother Grigoris was still at our stand, instead of enjoying the warm Friday\u2019s sun. I was traveling back to Bucharest (with the super expensive Air France and its nice empty planes with the very polite flight attendants), while he was returning back to Thessaloniki, together with two very good friend of ours. He was flying by Swiss, few hours after me, so he decided to stay at our stand as much as possible. (We usually have this habit as family, we don\u2019t abandon our work for fun and we are very proud of that).
\nSo, at a partially destroyed area, with everything at our stand being packed and removed before and almost everyone around him being gone since hours, Grigoris saw a gentleman coming to him. It proved out to be a major international player, representing one of the top firms of architects in the world. They had an interesting discussion, but this is not my point. Just think about it: The last day of MIPIM, while people were away and workers had already started deconstructing the stands, some \u201cbig bosses\u201d were walking around, checking stands, companies and ideas, searching for a potential lead for business and deals. Last year, they were all gone from the previous night, having headed to Monte Carlo or Monaco, to enjoy their weekend. This year we saw many \u201cbig names\u201d present even until the last moment\u2026<\/p>\n
Officially -30%\u2026 \u2026 I met 80% less people comparing to 2008\u2026 \u2026 but the quality and the potential is probably double!<\/strong> Last Monday I described to you that this year the interest for investments worldwide and especially for Romania was significantly lower than the past. This was something we all expected. But we didn\u2019t expect to have 70-80% less meetings than 2008 (my company\u2019s figures). This happened while in the same time the quality of these meetings was very high, creating a positive outcome (at least this is my approach). So, after all, what are the lessons that MIPIM taught us this year? (for me who paid to be there, cost a lot, but you can receive my opinion for\u2026 free):<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Romania is not the centre of the world anymore<\/strong>. In 2007 and 2008 the majority of Romanians and many foreigners got the impression that the whole world will be begging them forever, so as to buy properties here. That the clients would be waiting in the queue for years, until the intelligent owner would decide to finally sell his property in an incredibly high price. They thought that they had the gold, that they owned the only investment choices for the investors all around the planet. When the prices in the major western cities had reached the sky, many people considered attractive even the crazy prices of some properties here. This is why we even heard and saw many owners comparing their properties with the ones of Paris, Prague, Los Angeles, or Athens\u2026 Well, guess what, this story has ended, or as Bags Bunny was saying \u201cThat\u2019s all, folks\u201d.<\/p>\n – Clients need strong reasons so as to return in Romania<\/strong>. The planes fly half empty, without carrying thousands of investors in them, the hotels struggle to maintain their occupancy rates, the transactions are much less than the past. Arrogance is punished and this time is punished for good. With the prices in London, Paris, Munich and New York being lower than Bucharest, why someone to come and invest here? (Correct, he can invest when he will find here many good properties, with excellent potential, in much more attractive prices<\/strong>). For the moment Romania is considered an overheated market, but in the same time, almost everyone recognizes that Romania will recover soon, if and when the prices will become again \u201cmore real\u201d, the offered product will improve, while more professionalism and transparency will take the lead. So the future can be bright, but only if we will approach the market and the clients with respect, which we lost in the previous years.<\/p>\n – Everyone is asking for opportunities<\/strong>. Now no one is asking for properties in general. All investors consider obvious the fact that we will find them excellent assets and they focus on their prices. They can move on only when the prices are really low and this is something which they specify to you starting with the very first words of a discussion. The dreamers who still expect clients to return and pay huge prices will wait a lot of years\u2026<\/p>\n – Catalogues of properties are no longer useful<\/strong>. No one really cares, no one asked, no one wanted. They all knew that the real opportunities are not printed on catalogues which are distributed at exhibitions and they were very straight: They told me what they wanted and asked me to adjust to their demands and priorities (something I consider I do quite successfully). Clients are more flexible now, faster to decide and willing to move quickly, for the excellent deal. The initial information is very important, the \u201cwrapping\u201d can follow. Also most of them show really very little respect to \u201cgreat analyses and market studies\u201d of the past. Now they search for more \u201creal figures\u201d, as they know how many investors were tricked by \u201cunreal predictions and market studies\u201d, signed by \u201ctop people\u201d (most probably unemployed today).<\/p>\n – The big players start investing NOW<\/strong>. I spoke with several clients, funds, companies, individuals, who are interested in investing NOW, in the period of the next 3 – 12 months. This strategy is not implemented only for Romania, but for properties all around the world. They consider that as the crisis will go on, until to reach bottom (I was saying in the first half of 2010, most of them agreed more or less, with few months\u2019 difference) there will be plenty of opportunities for successful investments. They search for excellent assets and they are determined to proceed, rejecting everyone who doesn\u2019t respect the fact that they are the clients and they have cash = they have the upper hand, they are the kings.<\/p>\n – Western Europe rebounds<\/strong>. They know how to make business, they have strategy, vision and know how. It is not difficult to understand why many healthy companies from Western Europe search NOW the Romanian market. Retailers or investors, Germans or French and Belgians, there are plenty of them, who considered ridiculous the prices of the last two years and now they want to be present in the future of Romania. It is our capability and respect which will make them enter and invest their hundreds of millions in the near future.<\/p>\n – Russia, Dubai and other ex \u201cstrong Real Estate markets\u201d are severely hit<\/strong>. The companies from Dubai were not even present this year, comparing to their dominance in 2008. Last year, Russians had thousands of sq.m., almost all possible advertising banners everywhere at Palais de Festivals and around the city and of course the sponsorship of the first day\u2019s gala. This year we saw few stands, nothing extraordinary. The crisis is here, changing the world, the priorities of investors and the potential of countries, cities etc. (Russian clients? This year this was the shortest joke, we didn\u2019t find not even ONE interested and present there\u2026)<\/p>\n – Time to network \u2013 the big bosses show us the way. <\/strong>2008. If you wanted to have a meeting with a boss of a big company, you had to apply for a meeting. If this application was approved, you would be informed to go to his stand. There usually you would find out that there were another two \u2013 three minutes scheduled in the same time. Sometimes you would not be able to meet him, not even for 1 minute. Everyone was proud and busy. 2009. Half of the last year\u2019s bosses were not even present at Cannes. Their companies\u2019 stands were usually empty, you could see people even looking at you and hoping that you want to meet and talk to them. Many CEOs and bosses were walking around and they were searching the exhibition stand by stand, so as to meet someone with good potential, so as to do business. So, most probably they were coming to your own stand, if you were present. They were friendly, open to discuss and ready to grab even the smallest possibility of a lead which could be transformed to a deal. – Quotes by Jean Claude Goldenstein, founder of the CREOpoint.com<\/strong>. This gentleman replied to my brother after MIPIM, having sent to him some very interesting quotes which he collected during the 4 exhibition\u2019s days. I thank him, copy and share them with you too:<\/p>\n – \u201cWhen the going gets tough the tough get going\u2026To the south of France!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Boris Johnson, Mayor of London – \u201cQuestion: \u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0 \u201cPay my mortgage!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While I was \u2026 raped again (paying for gold each and every extra kilo I had in my luggage), my brother Grigoris was still at our stand, instead of enjoying the warm Friday\u2019s sun. I was traveling back to Bucharest (with the super expensive Air France and its nice empty planes with the very polite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[240],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iliaspapageorgiadis.ro\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>MIPIM is represented in Greece by Mrs. Lita Borne. She is one of the oldest of the organizer\u2019s stuff and be sure she deserves to work with them all these 19 years. She knows her job pretty good, trying all the time to keep every client satisfied, creating personal connection with him \/ her. She knows that \u201cClient is the king\u201d. This is why she has \u201cdevoted\u201d clients for many years and she is very popular between all the Greeks who visit one of the exhibitions of the organizer, MIPIM, MAPIC etc. (This is why I decided to collaborate with her and not the person in charge of Romania \u2013 I don\u2019t know him actually).
\nSo my adorable friend, Lita, came to us the last day, so as to inform that more or less the figures this year were 30% less comparing to 2008. I had no reason but to believe her, this year MIPIM reached some 18.900 \u2013 19.000 visitors, being still the no. 1 Real Estate exhibition in the world. But this time it was obvious that many people were missing\u2026 Especially the investors and several major exhibitors, developers or others, the ones transform this exhibition to a unique event.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In the same time, this year was very quiet for my company, MORE International Invest. With bigger stand, better location and design than 2008, we finally met about 80% less people comparing to last year. Of\u00a0 course, I didn\u2019t accept this pathetically, I walked around the Palais de Festivals, and met some very interesting people and probably I will have couple of good agreements coming out of these \u201cshort tours\u201d. Also as we learned how to work good as a team, I didn\u2019t have the fear to leave, whenever I needed it (trust me, its more difficult than you think\u2026 a big thank you to my brother Grigoris and our colleague Daniela, it is good to feel that they back you up when you need it).
\nThis free time allowed me to have longer conversations with almost everyone. I could add the word \u201cdeeper\u201d ones too, with more time to focus on the details and to understand better what was the real interest of the person sitting at the other side of the table. You know, when there is almost a queue of people waiting, you are happy to talk to all, you try your best, but there are always misunderstandings, people who couldn\u2019t wait more etc. This makes me say that if we would have had double number of meetings (so just -60% comparing to 2008, instead of -80%) we would have been very happy and the situation would have been almost ideal.<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t want to sound grumpy. Even if the number of meetings was dramatically reduced, the quality of the people I met was more than enough to make me happy. While in 2008 there were plenty of guys, some of them really interested and many others just spending their time, this year I met almost only very serious businessmen, major companies, who know very well what they want and why they are in Romania. Ok, some of them were searching for opportunities with \u201c0 price\u201d, but in general they knew what they can find today, they have a strategy and their steps look well prepared and organized.
\nThis world crisis gave us the chance to welcome at our stand people who would never come the previous years (they would be too busy and too sure that they receive the best services). Looks like there are many complains around, which creates opportunities as well, for the ones who didn\u2019t get involved in \u201cstrange\u201d stories. It is obvious for me that not only I don\u2019t comment about the past, but also I respect clients in the same way, either they did business before with us or not. The client is always free to work with whoever he likes and even when he leaves to us just his\u2026 dust (from his shoes) this is a profit too. But except their dust, most of them had to contribute much more in our discussion and in a potential future deal.
\nEven the Romanian journalists who came to our stand were more relaxed this year and we had the chance to discuss in a civilized way. They didn\u2019t have to run after 40 \u2013 50 people in two days (last year\u2019s story) plus most of the people avoid talking officially now.
\nLooking at the total overview of 2008 and 2009, I would choose this year comparing to the previous one, because the quality was probably double and the potential looks more fruitful. Does it sound weird? Tomorrow I will explain to you why\u2026<\/p>\n
\nThe message must be clear. Forget about the behavior of the past. If you want to save ourselves, let us network together.<\/strong> Let us meet, discuss, search for solutions, share clients and properties, information and rumors. When the top ones do like this, we should follow, avoiding the typical approach here in Romania of \u201cfitze\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n– \u201cWe are all feeling the impact of this new world order where what happens in a blink may affect our lives and those of our clients<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 DLA Piper
\n– \u201cThere were two kinds of people at MIPIM. Those complaining about the lower number of visitors, and those happy with the higher ratio of C level people there.\u201d Magnus Svanteg\u00e5rd of Datscha
\n– \u201cWe feed our investment team prozac on a regular basis.\u201d<\/strong> Janice Stanton of C&W
\n– \u201cReady to kick assets.\u201d Laura Chesters of Property Week
\n– \u201cIt is not the strongest of the species who survive, or the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.\u201d<\/strong> Charles Darwin quoted by Robert Newhart of Innovation Center
\n– \u201cThere\u2019s no talk about sovereign funds or Russian oligarchs compared to last year.\u201d Dietrich Heidtman of Morgan Stanley
\n– \u201cWhen money no longer controls your culture, there\u2019s room for new ideas to establish themselves.\u201d<\/strong> Wolf Priz, leading architect
\n– \u201cEveryone tells me about the crisis; it was important to prove to the contrary.\u201d\u00a0 Alain Juppe, Former French Prime Minister
\n– \u201cThe era of me is over \u2013 the era of we is here.\u201d <\/strong>Michael Buckley\u2019s mega-mixed use session
\n– \u201c2.5 billion people have suffered through disasters in the last 30 years.\u00a0 How could your skills help?\u201d<\/strong> RICS www.buildaction.org<\/a>
\n– \u201cThe US government should stop saying they will sweeten the pot. No one wants to be seen as a premature ejaculator.\u201d Ken Patton, Dean New York University RE Institute
\n– \u201cBe open to new people, everyone is in the same boat today.\u201d<\/strong> Steve Felix, Aviva
\n– \u201cThe immediate future is very much in the hands of our banks and the success of our government support.\u201d<\/strong> Nigel Roberts, JLL<\/p>\n