The left-of-center New York Times’ Business section this morning opened with the headline, “’I Can’t Keep Doing This:’ Small-Business Owners Are Giving Up.”
NY Times writer Emily Flitter said, “More owners are permanently shutting their doors after new lockdown orders, realizing that there may be no end in sight to the crisis.”
WBEZ, a left-of-center NPR outlet that cites AP, said on 7.14.2020 that “As economies around the world reopen, legions of small businesses that help define and sustain neighborhoods are struggling. The stakes for their survival are high: The U.N. estimates that businesses with fewer than 250 workers account for two-thirds of employment worldwide.”
While no exact numbers are readily available, the estimates range into 6 figures of business that won’t ever reopen. CNBC reported that over 6 million small businesses are at risk. Some large business are among those which have gone into bankruptcy. On the other side of the coin, are the millions who have reportedly benefited from the Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). Sources say that six million businesses have benefited so far employing 30.5 million people, according to the Joliet Chamber and others sources.
Among those lost in manufactured housing that has been publicly reported is by Cavco Industries (CVCO), see that report linked below.
Cavco Industries “Killer Acquisition,” CVCO’s New Controversy Tests Antitrust Resolve
With fear over Covid19, complications from riots and other unrest, off-and-on against shutdowns, school openings in question, and more, the net effect is that millions of workers and numbers of business owners are or believe that they are in limbo.
What Does Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) Sam Zell Say?
Sam Zell was quoted by BisNow as saying that a U-Shaped recovery will likely begin in the fall.
Real estate mogul Sam Zell predicts the country should be on track for a U-shaped recovery with an upswing beginning this fall, over a year before he suspects a coronavirus vaccine will become available.
BisNow called “Zell — the architect of the modern real estate investment trust, who also invests in fossil fuels, hospitals and logistics — spoke about the economy amid the pandemic and what recovery may look like during a New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate webinar Wednesday.”
“At best, and most likely, we’re going to see a U-shaped recovery,” Zell said. “We’ve basically improved somewhat, I think we’re going to have kind of a slow period improving toward the end of the year, that’s very different from a radical V-shaped, ‘Oh, we were hurt and now we’re better.'”
Zell, per Forbes, has an estimated worth of roughly $4.7 billion. He founded ELS, as well as Zell, Equity Group Investments, among other professional interests.
“If we got a vaccine in place a year and a half from now, I would consider that a success,” Zell said during the webinar. “I think the goal must be the elimination of the word ‘death’ from the equation. In other words, we’ve gotta make this virus a bad flu, not a life-and-death situation.”
Overall, the economy is faring better than perceived, he said, but he doesn’t expect the unemployment rate to go below 10% by the end of the year. The unemployment rate was at 11.1% at the end of June, continuing a decline that began in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment peak amid the pandemic was in April at 14.4%, according to the Pew Research Center.
“[Ten percent is] a pretty lousy number, but it’s a lot better than what we’ve been dealing with up until now,” Zell said. “I don’t think we’re in a depression, I don’t think that this is permanently damaging the United States beyond [repair] or anything like that.”
In a distressed market, Zell opined, the key to turning an opportunistic profit isn’t investing in a particular asset class. It is about investing in a good deal.
“I might not be enthusiastic about hotels right now, but give me the right price and I can do the discount in my head and try to figure out if I’ll be alive when the discount returns,” he said.
“I can tell you right now, there aren’t any transactions and there isn’t any price discovery,” Zell said. “The spread between what the owner thinks his property is worth and what the buyer thinks the property is worth is a percentage probably immense compared to previous periods.”
Those comments should be viewed through the lens of the report linked above, which provided a rather rosy outlook of how ELS was navigating the pandemic up until the date their investor call stated.
See the related reports that follow.
Reports from across the left-right divide that shed light on the industry’s realities are found right here at the runaway number-one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes are often hot-linked to other reports that can be accessed by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
“Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste” – COVID19 Pandemic – Problems and Solutions
