At the beginning of the month, my wife and I made a six and a half hour trek to Omaha for the Annual Shareholder Meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. The picture is at the moment that Warren announced his retirement and he is getting a standing ovation. He is sitting on the left side of the table and his successor Greg Abel is standing in the middle. Apparently, he had not told anyone, not even Greg!
The Friday the day before the Annual Shareholder Meeting and the Q&A is the shopping day. Can you name five companies that Berkshire Hathaway owns ? See's Candy, Flight Safety International, Coca Cola, Apple, Fruit of the Loom,Netjets, Pampered Chef, Squishmallows! and Clayton Homes.
What is interesting is that Clayton Homes is a manufactured homebuilder. I was speaking to an executive of the company, he was selling me on the fact that because the quality of the manufactured home has improved, they now also appreciate similar to a regular home. Although, I am not 100% convinced of this, I like the idea that smaller, cheaper homes can also appreciate.
I predict that in the future, homes will be smaller mainly due to demographics and the soaring cost of insurance and property taxes as well as the price of the home. In the Tulsa area where I am, currently the opposite is happening. As lot prices go up, builders are building bigger homes to maintain their margins. As a consumer, I would like to see nicely appointed smaller homes that I can self insure. Perhaps companies like Clayton Homes or Boxabl can fill this void.
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