OK, so there is not really a publication with this title. I used to be having some fun just. Don’t waste your time Googling or Amazoning it. It doesn’t exist. This point in time In, you can’t always believe what the thing is. But you know, this is exactly what I was thinking as I used to be reading through some of the comments appearing out of the annual meeting.
There were some difficult questions raised this time plus some shareholders didn’t appear happy with the answers. Also, not long from then on too, a hedge fund manager criticized Buffett contacting him a hypocrite. He backtracked later and said he was only kidding evidently. I think he made these comments because Buffett, at the annual meeting, disapproved of the pretend reinsurance companies; reinsurance was simply a ‘entrance’ (beard) for what is actually a hedge finance.
- Property/Real Estate
- Michigan State: Broad
- BP – British Petroleum – Score: 49.82
- Raising finances
- Failed test case Number and Percentage
- Market Attractiveness of the Business
I think the criticism against Buffett was a response compared to that comment. Anyway, I decided to just chime in on what I believe about these respective issues that emerged up. I don’t believe I’ve much to increase what was already said someplace on either side of each argument; these are a few thoughts that arrived to brain as I read about them. Plus, it’s a justification to post this fake publication cover I made to the general public. One issue was about the lending procedures of Clayton Homes.
I browse the article (that reported on lending abuses at Clayton) and looked online for problems and there are a few horrible tales there. Buffett responded that there have been few problems to his office, few investigations and fines in a highly governed business. Clayton sells something similar to 30,000 homes per year so that says something, how few issues are there. I came across one Better Business Bureau (BBB) site that shows 172 complaints over three years, but that’s only one region.
I have no idea what that body is nationally. Other websites have nightmare stories about Clayton too, but it doesn’t really inform me anything. If you Google your favorite restaurant even, you will see a few horror stories. Also, we must retain in brain the type of the business. I don’t even trust your average agent. I think they may be mostly full of it and don’t believe what they state; they’ll say what they need to tell get the offer done (well, evidently bond traders do this too!).
Of course there are good and bad agents, like anywhere else just. I tend to believe that most people are honest, though, and make an effort to do the right thing. Several bad apples won’t ruin it for me (e.g., despite all I heard from the financial meltdown, I still like and respect Goldman Sachs).
With respect to problems with the merchandise itself (the homes), I had been warned a long time ago by a genuine estate attorney in NYC to avoid new building. She has done many real property deals over her long profession and generally in most new constructions there were problems. It takes a few years for the building to get debugged, and possibly some lawsuits to get the fixes paid for by the builder.
She said let others deal with that headaches and just find something that has been working fine for some time already. So it is kind of not surprising reading about Clayton complaints on the product. I hear about problems at all times on about every other construction/renovation etc just. With big projects, there will be problems. This isn’t a business like delivering pizzas, books or CD’s.