Tag: auto-write property listings

Life as a real estate agent can be many things. Exciting. Emotional. Extremely Demanding. And with the rise of remote working, it can also give agents incredible flexibility.

Having the luxury of choosing your working hours comes with significant benefits. But working from home requires self-discipline and time-management. Especially for those with a family.

1. Set regular office hours

It’s not uncommon for agents to work around the clock. Especially when they’re starting out and don’t want to miss a potential lead. But overworking to the point of self-neglect can quickly result in burnout, or ill-health.

Combat this by setting a regular work schedule. Stick to it as rigidly as possible. It’s the best way to set boundaries and protect your mental and physical health.

2. Create clear business goals

Set realistic and achievable goals for your real estate business. It’s an excellent way to stay motivated. You might set specific numbers for the following:

• Open houses to attend each week.
• New leads to find every day.
• Listing appointments to complete each week.
• Closings to achieve each quarter or year.
• Follow-up emails you send to potential clients.
• Marketing results you receive through various advertising channels.
• Social media posts you make.
• Time saving new tech products to trial.

3. Get dressed for work

4. Invest in the best tools

There are dozens of tools, apps, and software to help you stay organised and productive.

Trying out one or more of the following will not only boost your motivation but make boring tasks more fun and less time-consuming.

• Asana is a project management tool for keeping track of tasks and goals.
• Canva is a free resource for creating beautiful visuals for marketing and social media posts.
• overwrite.ai is an AI writing assistant for estate agents which creates unique and engaging property descriptions, instantly.
• RescueTime is for tracking work with reports on your online behavior, project work, and overall productivity.

5. Manage that Diary

Time management can help you avoid distractions and stay on task. Schedule blocks of time in your calendar and only work on a specific task during that period.

For example, try blocking off a couple of hours in the morning to work on new leads. Take an hour at midday for marketing tasks. Then spend the afternoon on viewings.

By setting times to achieve critical tasks, you’ll be more likely to stay focused, as know you have limited time to complete them.

6. Take a “mental commute”

Working from home can make it challenging to “clock out”. Take a few minutes at the end of the day to “commute” home.

Walk around your neighbourhood. Turn off work notifications. Change your clothes. Hit the gym. Make a home-cooked meal. Whatever it is, some after-work activity can help you turn off “work mode” and unwind.

7. Make time for marketing

Marketing yourself and your properties is essential in real estate. Your listing clients rely on you and your firm to market their home for sale or rent.

Creating a personal brand gives you a positive reputation in your community.

Schedule time each week for various marketing tasks, such as posting on social media, improving your listing descriptions, and sending email newsletters. Content should be unique, and engaging. Never copy and paste your marketing content unless you want to sound like every other agent out there.

Turn on “Out of Office”

Staying healthy and motivated when working from home comes down to priorities. You being at the top of the list.

Eat healthy meals. Move your body. Get enough sleep. It’s all about balance. You’ll be better positioned to take care of your real estate business when you take care of yourself.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

Summer 2022 – the ultimate season of revenge travel.

Travelling to make up for time lost, and opportunities missed, because of the pandemic. When everyone’s prepared to go a little further, or spend a touch more than normal, on a summer holiday.

That might mean going hard on a bucket-list roadtrip. Embarking on an adventurous, once-in-a-lifetime escape. Booking that indulgent island retreat. Even repeating a trip that had to be shelved.

At its heart, it reflects a newfound desire to travel like never before. 

So to help with your travel search, here are ‘Six Summer Destinations for 2022‘ shortlisted for you:

#1 Santorini, Greece

The island of Santorini is one of the most idyllic, insta-worthy destinations in the world. Quintessential Cycladic white homes with blue domes overlooking the sea, and endless denizen-run restaurants that meld tradition, gastronomy, and passion. Santorini is the crown jewel of the Cyclades. And there’s Grecian magic to be found in every corner.

#2 Marrakesh, Morocco

Marrakesh. Morocco. Multi-faceted and enchanting. From the merchants selling crafts in the Medina, to it’s high-end hospitality scene. Marrakesh is guaranteed to mesmerise.

#3 St. Moritz, Switzerland

Ski season or not, St. Moritz is a Swiss jewel. It has a charming city center, overflowing with shops and galleries, hiking trails and a picture-perfect lake. To say summer here is dreamy is an understatement.

#4 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt 

From the Pyramids of Giza to the Valley of Kings, your travel itinerary will be spilling over with a long list of enigmatic Egyptian tourist spots. And if you’ve always wanted to explore the ancient wonders of Egypt, this is the year. Not only will 2022 mark 100 years of independence from the United Kingdom, historians will also celebrate 100 years since the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

#5 Cannes, France

Celebs flock here each year, posing on the red carpet in their sparkling gowns and expertly tailored suits for the Cannes Film Festival. But summer in this French hotspot is much more than that. From the designer stores lining its beachfront to the harbour side European-style cafes overlooking the multimillion dollar yachts, Cannes’ glitz and glamour are well worth witnessing.

#6 Valle De Guadalupe, Mexico 

Valle De Guadalupe is Mexico’s wine country and perhaps its most burgeoning secret. In many opinions, way cooler than Napa (and more wallet-friendly). The area spills over with design-forward boutique hotels and upscale restaurants helmed by some of Mexico’s best chefs and a wealth of wineries.

Rediscovering Your Why

2022 is a chance for us to reconnect to the best holiday destinations in a deeper, more authentic way. Wherever the destination.

We’ll be reminded often of why we travel; those sparks of curiosity and adventure. We’ll appreciate every moment that comes with it. And we’ll be grateful for all the hard work that made it possible to get us there.

And for the estate agents reading this, there are some great efficiency tools to help you work remotely. Intelligently automated writing assistants like overwrite.ai mean you don’t have to be stuck behind a desk, to post incredible listings that’ll get you leads. You can get out there and see the world.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

1. WATER 💧💧

Even in hotter climates, water is often something we take for granted. But when you’re out and about all day; you’re gonna get parched. So have plenty of water. And bring some for your thirsty clients, too. 

2. WET WIPES 🧻

From sandy footprints to greasy fingers and toilet breaks, wet wipes can deal with just about anything. 

3. SNACKS 🥯🍏

Three square meals a day? Not a chance, in this profession. So be sure to keep a stash of nutritious, non-perishable snacks on the go, for those back-to-back meeting days where there’s no choice but to refuel on the fly. 

4. SPARE SHOES 👞👠

No one wants to ruin their good shoes on a dirty building site, or lose a sale looking like you’ve just stepped out of a sandpit or puddle. Slip on your backup, not-so-posh pair, while keeping your fancy ones for the Show Home.

5. PHONE CHARGER 📶🤳

Waiting for clients can be boring. Killing time on your phone is a sure fire battery drainer. Keep an extra charger on hand at all times. Bonus points if you keep an external battery, too.

6. HAND SANITIZER 😷🤝

Goes without saying, even in our Post-COVID world. Agents are touching everything. From shaking hands to turning doorknobs. There’s no end to the number of touch points on the job. Have a sanitiser on you. Offer it to clients. It won’t go unnoticed, and it keeps you safe. And while you’re at it, throw in some face masks for added protection.

7. SMALL GROCERY BAGS 🛒

These are great for everything – from dealing with rubbish to tidying up an unexpected mess just before a client turns up for a viewing. 

8. ZIP TIES 🪢

These bad boys can solve a multitude of problems. Who knew zip ties could be put to so many uses? Securing swinging gates, carrying multiple keys, or fixing your most recent “Sold” sign. They’re basically the real estate version of duct tape, so bring ‘em with you.

GO THAT “EXTRA MILE”

Small, thoughtful touches are the kind of thing that clients remember, after you’ve left. So when it comes to the little extra touches that set your service apart from the other agents, the devil is in the detail.

9. MINTS  🟢

When that quick snack you grabbed before a viewing happens to have been loaded with garlic. This is guaranteed to have even the keenest buyer look the other way. Keep your breath minty fresh and save yourself the embarrassment.

10. BAND AIDS 🩹💊

Whether it’s a blister from the new designer shoes or a nasty little splinter, the last thing you need is a detour to the local pharmacy to slow you down. Pack a few Band Aids and be prepared for any first aid emergencies. Headache pills are also a game changer!

11. BUG REPELLENT 🦟 🦗

Mosquitoes. Flies. Giant Grasshoppers. Whatever bugs are distracting you from your sales pitch, they need to be repelled, ASAP. Running away from a wasp isn’t the lasting impression you’re looking for.

12. FLASHLIGHT 🔦

Late night viewings aren’t ideal. Disconnected power sucks. Keep a torch in your car trunk for those occasions when the light switches don’t work. You never know which competitor agent is lurking out there in the dark…

Keep this kit in your motor and you’ll be prepared for just about anything!

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

If I had a dollar for every smug muppet who dropped a cringe-worthy cliché on me over the years, I’d be a millionaire.

They’re cheesy.

Overused.

And completely unoriginal.

Here’s a list of overused office clichés’ that have no business being used in business.

They belong in the bin.

1. To be honest

Wait, you weren’t being honest until now?

2. With all due respect

Anytime a person starts a sentence with this, they’re about to disrespect you.

3. Pick your brain

Translation: I want to know what you know, and am too lazy to look it up myself.

4. Let’s get disruptive

You’re trying to be edgy and trendy; we get it.

5. Let’s see if we have the bandwidth

This typically means the person doesn’t have the time, money, or skills to do what you’re asking, but doesn’t want to admit it. It’s a stall tactic.

6. The fact of the matter is

This basically says, “What you’ve presented until now was not fact and I’m about to correct you.”

9. Push the envelope

The last time I pushed the envelope, it ended up in the mailbox.

10. In the pipeline

The point of the pipeline is that when something goes into it, it’ll come out somewhere else entirely.

11. Loop back/circle back

So, we’re going to talk about this later, then…

14. To be fair

It’s not fair if you’re not fair.

15. Let’s take a deep dive

This was the “cool” thing to say five years ago. Now it’s been drowned out (pardon the pun).

16. It is what it is

Yes, that’s true. It definitely “is what it is.” But the question is, what is it?

17. Low-hanging fruit

Someone who is talking about low-hanging fruit may not have much experience “reaching for the stars” (pun intended).

18. Move the needle

Everybody wants to “move the needle,” but without actionable advice this is a waste.

19. Think outside the box

Chances are high that the person who’s telling you think outside the box, is somehow firmly entrenched in a box of their own.

20. Get granular

You mean specific? Why don’t you just say “specific”?

21. This really has legs

It may have legs, but can it run?

22. Raise the bar

Raising our standard is great. But how’re we gonna keep it there?

23. Run it up the flagpole

We take it to our boss, who takes it to their boss, who in turn takes it to their boss. Once it reaches Ultimate Boss, what happens then?

24. Ducks in a row

If you’re vegetarian, substitute for eggs. Or don’t use at all.

25. My door is open

Your door is open, except when its closed.

A bit of Blue Sky Thinking

Let’s avoid smug phrases and stick to common sense uses of language. Otherwise we’ll all end up being nothing more than a bunch of smug muppets.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

My phone rings.

Me: “Hello?”

Cold Caller: Long pause from automated dialler… “Hello. Is this Eva Colbert?”

Me: “Yes it is.”

Cold Caller: “Hello Ms. Colbert. How are you today?”

SERIOUSLY?!

Ice Ice Baby 🎶

We’ve all been cold called.

But the worst cold calls are when the caller asks you ‘how you’re doing?’, without even introducing themselves first.

It feels like nails on a frozen chalkboard. Very uncomfortable.

Why is a complete stranger calling to ask how I’m doing?

The best response, is “I’m busy”. This icy reply usually catches them off-guard. 🥶

Follow it up with a quick “Thanks. Bye.” and you can usually be rid of the inconvenient caller in seconds. Without even giving them a chance to dive into their pitch.

ProTip: Don’t say this!

But if you’re that cold caller, the last thing you want is to be bounced into the cold.

Increase your chance of success, by never, ever, ever ever ever starting off your call with “How are you today?”

Capture your prospect’s attention any way you like.

Just make sure not to dive straight into the unsanctioned “How are you today?” intro.

It’s doomed to fail.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

Dad’s Rock! 👨‍🎤🤘.

And not just on Father’s Day.

Even their super-cringe jokes are lovable.

(Note to all – if you’re wincing but still need to hear the punchline, that’s a Dad Joke.)

So sit back, and enjoy some of our worst real estate dad jokes… 

---

DAD JOKE #1

“What room in your house are zombies most afraid of?

The living room.

DAD JOKE #2

My bread and butter listings are those with finished basements.
They’re my best cellars!

---

DAD JOKE #3

Did you hear about the only remaining unit in the apartment building?
It was last but not leased.

DAD JOKE #4

“Why does the mortgage broker always eat lunch by himself?

Because he is a loaner.

DAD JOKE #5

“What kind of insects do you WANT to have in your investment property?

Ten-ants.

DAD JOKE #6

“Hey Girl, is your name mortgage?

Because you’ve got my interest.

DAD JOKE #7

Why didn’t the hipster real estate agent show the oceanside mansion?

It was too current.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

Empowering employees to ‘own’ their work and be judged on outcomes rather than inputs could be the key to improving productivity and strengthening engagement in hybrid workforces.

Dan Price, the Seattle CEO known for cutting his own pay to fund increasing the minimum salary at his firm, Gravity Payments, to $70,000 (£56,000), revealed on Twitter last October that he’d asked his employees where they wanted to work. 

The poll he’d asked them to complete offered three options: HQ, hybrid or home. Only 7% wanted to return to the office full time, while 31% preferred hybrid. The remaining 62% wanted to work remotely. 

His response? “Sounds great. Do whatever you want… As a CEO, what do I care? If you get your work done, that’s all that matters.” 

Global Preference to WFM

The results of Price’s survey seem to be roughly in line with the preferences of the global workforce. The latest studies suggest that many employees, having had a taste of remote working, aren’t keen to return to HQ full time, even though this is what many employers would prefer. 

“Our data shows that employees expect to be offered hybrid working. They will leave, or not join an employer in the first place, if that’s not available,”

Nick Gallimore, director of innovation at business software provider Advanced. 

“This poses a major problem for organisations that want to retain key staff. They must think very carefully before, say, proposing pay cuts for remote employees. Such measures look as though they’ll prove deeply unpopular.” 

Remote working: Measuring it up

Such findings suggest that employers could be setting themselves up for a fall if they cling on to the command-and-control approach of office-based work. They also indicate that firms urgently need to find effective new ways to measure remote workers’ contributions. 

A research report published by EY after the UK’s first nationwide Covid lockdown was lifted in 2020, Physical Return and Work Reimagined Study, found that 49% of the 700-plus employers it had polled were already looking to do so.

“As businesses struggle with the great resignation and a battle for talent, shifting to focus on workforce output and satisfaction is a must,”

Nicola Downing, CEO of IT consultancy Ricoh Europe. 

“A more task-based approach empowers people to work flexibly and it shows that they’re trusted to get the job done. Organisations could then look at introducing certain ‘mutual’ hours where colleagues work at the same time in the same place to promote collaboration.” 

Empowering Employees

Good managers not only establish expectations and gives employees a voice in the process; they also help people to understand how their role expectations align with team and organisational objectives.

Price’s reaction to the findings of his poll also highlights the fact that many business leaders have come to accept that much of what a given employee is achieving isn’t apparent from looking at their time sheet. It’s made them realise why there was so much dissatisfaction with the way we worked before the pandemic. 

Engaging with hybrid working means that companies are becoming flatter and more dispersed, with a less visible workforce. Their focus when measuring performance therefore needs to shift to a task-based model of outcomes, such as customer satisfaction or time to market.

Understanding outputs and productivity

The best way for organisations to understand output is to apply high-quality performance management methods, according to Gallimore. He argues that one of the problems afflicting many firms in this respect is a lack of clarity on what outcomes are most important to them and then articulating how each person’s individual goals feed into achieving these. 

“If each employee has clear goals that define expectations of their output and are linked to organisational objectives, this will free the organisation to empower people in terms of where and when they work,” Gallimore says. “This way, measuring output becomes a lot easier. If your process is agile enough, you’ll find that it can really drive that sense of empowerment.”

This is key to the success of an outcome-focused hybrid working policy, he adds. Rather than dictating to people when they need to attend the office, employers can trust them to decide for themselves according to the goals they’re aiming to achieve. 

Gallimore cites the process of inducting new recruits as an example. Although firms’ experiences during the Covid lockdowns have shown that it can be done remotely, many people feel that things can be missed this way, so it’s often better to complete the process in person at HQ. Under an outcome-focused approach, this is a tangible task that can be left up to a manager and their team to choose where and when to do it, leaving other stakeholders in the organisation to judge how successful that decision was. 

Sheela Subramanian is co-founder and vice-president of the Future Forum, a research consortium backed by Slack Technologies.

She believes that:

“It’s critical that leaders move from activity to outcomes when measuring performance. The first step is being really clear with your team by defining what ‘good’ looks like. This will be a mix of quantitative and qualitative outcomes. There can be potential for ambiguity when one balances the two, so it’s important for leaders to share examples of success.” 

According to research by Gallup, almost half of all employees start their working day without a clear idea of what they’re expected to achieve. This is quite a troubling finding for an office-based workforce, but it becomes even more problematic in situations where employees are more widely distributed. 

This places even more responsibility on their managers to set clear objectives, according to Dr Adam Hickman, senior workplace strategist at Gallup. 

“Good managers not only establish expectations and gives employees a voice in the process; they also help people to understand how their role expectations align with team and organisational objectives,” he says. “When employees have this sense of purpose, their engagement soars, even when they’re working at a distance.” 

Dr Adam Hickman

Goals also need to be aligned with tangible outcomes to make it crystal-clear to everyone what progress looks like, Hickman adds. 

“Everyone likes to have something to show for their hard work, but this can be especially helpful for hybrid workers when you can’t always see the tasks they complete each day in person,” he says. 

Focusing on outcomes in this way should also help hybrid workers to organise their time better, as they’ll be able to quantify how much work a particular task is likely to require. This should then enable them to achieve a better work/life balance, which will again make for a happier workforce, according to Gallimore. 

Empowering employees

“What people want from their employer has changed significantly over the past few years. In particular, there’s been a real increase in demand for a better work-life balance,” he says. “By helping employees to clearly understand the outputs that are important to the business, you can free up enough choice around those outputs – for example, where, when and how people prefer to work – to enable them to find the balance they’re looking for.” 

The opportunity to engage with hybrid working not only liberates employees; it frees organisations from the traditional office-hours metric of productivity, which was at best myopic and at worst a serious limiter to business growth and success. 

---

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.

Jon Axworthy writes for Raconteur 

This story has been published from an article on Monday 13th June 2022, without modifications to the text. Only the headline and has been changed.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

Your cab driver’s got one. So does your mother-in-law. Your best friend too. Everyone has an opinion on Dubai house prices.

Here’s mine: I see Dubai house prices softening this year. And here are 4 signals that are flashing red.

#1: Quantitative Tightening

Over a decade of quantitative easing has finally come home to roost. Printing money ad infinitum led to excess liquidity, and plenty of free lunch. But we all know there’s no such thing.

At a recent event JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, the world’s #1 banking CEO, said “Several aspects of quantitative easing programs “backfired,” including negative rates, which he called a “huge mistake.”

Central banks “don’t have a choice because there’s too much liquidity in the system,” Dimon said, referring to the tightening actions. “They have to remove some of the liquidity to stop the speculation, reduce home prices and stuff like that.”

#2: Interest Rate Increases

If by now you haven’t got the message that the Federal Reserve bank of the United States is increasing interest rates by at least another 2% this year, what rock have you been hiding under?

Anyone thinking the impact of this will simply be a few additional hundred dollars a month on a mortgage repayment, might want to reconsider; Car loans. Personal loans. And credit card debt. It all adds up.

The argument that prices are shielded by cash purchases in Dubai’s luxury residential real estate segment, isn’t good enough. The majority of middle-income homeowners have mortgage financed their property purchases.

How long can the average family contend with the increased costs of consumer goods, loans and fuel?

Expect a chunk of middle-income households to be tipped into debt burdens they can’t comfortably keep up with. To reduce their monthly obligations, they’ll sell properties.

That will introduce more supply to the market at a time when developers are in full swing, putting downward pressure on prices up and down the price spectrum.

#3: Replacement Costs

When the cost of buying a secondary market home is equal to or less than the cost of building the same home from the ground up; don’t think. Buy the home that’s ready to move into. Immediate utility. No-brainer.

China’s zero-covid tolerance policy. Inflated costs of labour and materials. Broken supply chains. All have compounded the cost of building, causing the price of new homes to increase. That’s lifted demand for ready homes. Values have risen.

What happens as those costs ease? US President Joe Biden’s plan to fix supply chain issues and reduce trade tariffs with China are designed to tackle inflation run amok. And with China finally reopening, raw material prices are going to drop.

Expect the cost of construction to ease, dragging down the value of ready homes.

#4: King Dollar and Prince Dirham

I’ve said it time and again.

As US interest rates increase, so too do the values of the US Dollar and the Dirham. Causing demand for Dubai housing to ease, and prices to soften.

The contention that many investors aren’t deterred by higher purchase costs, ignores fundamental economic rules of thumb. That investors behave rationally.

Bubbles Be Poppin’

Those who know me, know that I’ve had skin in the Dubai real estate game for the past 20 years. I believe in Dubai. Its resilience. Its leadership. The proactive nature of its residents. And it’s X-Factor. That Wild Card that continues to pull demand.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about property investment, and Dubai in particular; you make your money when you buy. It’s all in the timing.

This week I closed my Dubai property portfolio. Sold my investment properties and equities.

Volatile, speculative asset classes like Cryptos and NFTs are already collapsing. Equity markets are being challenged. Real estate isn’t immune. It’s merely a matter of time.

I expect values to soften as we exit 2022, or by early 2023. But rather than a hard crash, we can look forward to a soft landing. I’ll be ready to dive back in when buy signals flash green again. Then I’ll buy a very specific property at Serenia Living on the Palm Island Jumeirah, where demand is inelastic.

---

An AI Implementation Strategist accredited by the prestigious MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ayman Alashkar also has a BSc in Mathematics from the world-renowned Queen Mary College, University of London, and an MSc in Real Estate Investment and Development from the University of Reading (UK). With +20 years’ experience working in real estate, banking and artificial intelligence, Ayman is the founder and CEO of overwrite.ai.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says he is preparing the biggest U.S. bank for an economic hurricane on the horizon and advised investors to do the same.

“You know, I said there’s storm clouds but I’m going to change it … it’s a hurricane,” 

Jamie Dimon – CEO JPMorgan Chase

Dimon, speaking at a financial conference in New York on Wednesday, says that while conditions seem “fine” at the moment, nobody knows if the hurricane is “a minor one or Superstorm Sandy”.

“You’d better brace yourself,” Dimon told the roomful of analysts and investors. “JPMorgan is bracing ourselves and we’re going to be very conservative with our balance sheet.”

Stocks have been hammered as investors prepare for the end of the Federal Reserve’s cheap money era. Inflation at multidecade highs, exacerbated by supply chain disruptions and the coronavirus pandemic, has sown fear that the Fed will inadvertently tip the economy into recession as it combats price increases.  

While stocks bounced from a precipitous decline in recent weeks on optimism that inflation may be easing, Dimon seemed to dash hopes that the bottom is in.

“Right now, it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine, everyone thinks the Fed can handle this,” Dimon said. “That hurricane is right out there, down the road, coming our way.”

There are two main factors that has Dimon worried: First, the Federal Reserve has signaled it will reverse its emergency bond-buying programs and shrink its balance sheet. The so-called quantitative tightening, or QT, is scheduled to begin this month and will ramp up to $95 billion a month in reduced bond holdings.

“We’ve never had QT like this, so you’re looking at something you could be writing history books on for 50 years,” Dimon said. Several aspects of quantitative easing programs “backfired,” including negative rates, which he called a “huge mistake.”

Central banks “don’t have a choice because there’s too much liquidity in the system,” Dimon said, referring to the tightening actions. “They have to remove some of the liquidity to stop the speculation, reduce home prices and stuff like that.”

The other large factor worrying Dimon is the Ukraine war and its impact on commodities, including food and fuel. Oil “almost has to go up in price” because of disruptions caused by the worst European conflict since World War II, potentially hitting $150 or $175 a barrel, Dimon said.

“Wars go bad, [they] go south in unintended consequences,” Dimon said. “We’re not taking the proper actions to protect Europe from what’s going to happen to oil in the short run.”

‘Huge Volatility’

Last week, during an investor conference for his bank, Dimon referred to his economic concerns as “storm clouds” that could dissipate. Presentations from Dimon and his deputies at the all-day meeting have bolstered JPMorgan shares by giving greater detail on investments and updated figures on interest revenue.

But his concerns seem to have deepened since then.

During the response to the 2008 financial crisis, central banks, commercial banks and foreign exchange trading firms were the three major buyers of U.S. Treasurys, Dimon said Wednesday. The players won’t have the capacity or desire to soak up as many U.S. bonds this time, he warned.

“That’s a huge change in the flow of funds around the world,” Dimon said. “I don’t know what the effect of that is, but I’m prepared for, at a minimum, huge volatility.”

One step the bank could take to gird itself for a coming hurricane is to push clients to move a type of lower-quality deposit called “non-operating deposits” into other places, such as money market funds, for example. That would help the bank manage its capital requirements under international rules, potentially helping it absorb a surge in bad loans.

“With all this capital uncertainty, we’re going to have to take actions,” Dimon said. “I kind of want to shed nonoperating deposits again, which we can do in size, to protect ourselves so we can serve clients in bad times. That’s the environment we’re dealing with.”

Banks having a “fortress balance sheet” and conservative accounting are the best protections for a downturn, Dimon said.

The bank has shied away from servicing a lot of federal FHA loans, he said, because delinquencies could hit 5% or 10% there, “which is guaranteed to happen in a downturn,” Dimon said.

‘Shame on you’

Dimon went on a tear during the hourlong session, barreling through topics like a “greatest hits” of his observations and gripes, often letting loose with profanity.

He lambasted investors for voting along with proxy advisors like Glass Lewis, which has disagreed with JPMorgan’s board on recent matters including executive compensation and whether the bank should separate the chairman and CEO roles in the future.

“Shame on you if that’s how you vote,” Dimon said. “Seriously, you should be embarrassed. Do your own homework.”

Companies are being driven out of public markets “because of litigation, regulation, press, cookie-cutter governance,” he added.  

Meanwhile, other critics often conflate stakeholder capitalism for being “woke,” Dimon said.  “I am a red-blooded, free market capitalist and I’m not woke,” he said.

“All we’re saying is when we wake up in the morning, we give a s— about serving customers, earning their respect, earning their repeat business.”

---

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.

Hugh Son writes for CNBC

This story has been published from an article on Wednesday 1st June 2022, without modifications to the text. Only the headline and has been changed.

---

For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.

---

overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for estate agents | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.