June (not her real name) has been on the run for 2 hours and 11 minutes. The first light of dawn has only just pierced the darkness. Having woken at 4 am, June had taken her morning coffee, grabbed a quick breakfast, put on her running shoes and hit the streets. All par for the course as part of her training for next month’s marathon.
It has been difficult to juggle work and training, but then June is as much into endurance racing as her job as an investment manager at a global investment corporation. The feeling of accomplishment and achievement when crossing the finish line is just as gratifying as closing a multi million dollar real estate transaction. The latest has been the PL deal that she worked on last December. Although June has seen her fair share of deals since graduating from NUS, the PL deal was her biggest thus far. And she remembers the sleepless nights she had while working to bring that deal to fruition.
It was a challenge from a close friend to take up running that started it all. And June had gone from a couch potato to completing a half marathon last year. The next logical challenge was the full marathon, all 42.195 km of it. And June has been diligently training the past four months.
The corner stone of training for a long distance event, as all marathoners would know, is the long slow distance run. This morning June is doing a 28 km LSD run. Such runs give her a lot of time to think and reflect. And surprisingly, after each long run, June usually feels refreshed and rejuvenated. Often she would find a solution to a tough problem at work, or come up with a new idea for better and more efficient work processes.
The sojourn along the dark park connectors of East Coast and Siglap has made her think of the recent developments globally as well as at home. She reflects on how the global economic crisis has caused many publicly listed real estate developers and REITs to see their share values halved. These past months have turned leverage into a dirty word, and to think that just a few years ago, leverage was king. Such irony. She recalls how her lecturer repeatedly said that leverage is a double edged sword. How true.
The older folks were starting their tai chi lessons along the beach. Such grace in motion. June is just glad for their company in such early hours when most of her peers are still in dreamland.
The old folks remind her of how aging is becoming a phenomenon in many countries, and well, Singapore is not spared. Her parents are perfect examples of how asset rich and cash poor most Singaporeans are. The government has been concerned for some time and has come up with various schemes to unlock asset wealth for retirement cash flow. The reverse mortgage scheme for private and public housing, and now the lease buy back scheme. What will they think of next?
Although June understands the rationale for such schemes, she ponders how the focus has shifted from housing provision to old age concerns. Perhaps this is simply the natural progression of things. June remembers how shortly after she graduated in 2002 that the government changed the regulations concerning usage of CPF in housing purchase. The proverbial sacred cow was sacrificed when CPF took lower priority to bank loans upon sale of property financed by CPF savings.
She takes a quick check on her heart rate and pace. 145 at 7 min per km. Right on target. Great.
June remembers how the world used to be simpler. Just take up a plain vanilla floating rate mortgage when buying a house. Recently, her best friend Alicia and her boyfriend were looking at financing their home with a SIBOR linked mortgage loan. That seemed to be the prevalent package these days. How times have changed.
A few fast runners pass her just then, most without a word or sound, although a few give a quick nod of the head.
As June runs past some private estates into Bedok Reservior, she can see how one large condo development is almost completed. That reminds her of how the current crisis has resulted in financial distress for many developers. The last crisis which June recalls, saw many developers liquidating and defaulting. June has recently examined an investment proposal to buy over a distressed development that is only partially completed. The first phase of the project sold well before the crisis hit. However the developer-owner is unable to meet cash flow demands and has to bail out. It is tedious tracking the project accounts, schedule of payments, construction costs, etc. But with a longer term time horizon than most investors, her company is well positioned to take advantage of distress sales such as this.
Oh yes. June makes a mental note to herself to double check her latest cash flows when she gets into office later.
6:58 am. Many people are out now. Joggers, dog walkers, old folks taking easy strolls and young folks hurrying off to work. June punched the stop button on her Garmin watch as she finishes her LSD run.
Yelp. She’ll be ready for the challenge in May.
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