Real Estate Reminds Me of Cigars

Way back in the late 90s an old fad emerged that had probably been dormant for 75 years. The reborn fad was cigar smoking. Famous celebrities and politicians were on the cover of Cigar Aficionado shown smoking big cigars and before long every 20 something, hipster-poseur working in mid-town was buying expensive cigars and pretending to enjoy them in the various bars around NYC.

Eventually though, the cigar fad petered out. Cigar bars slowly closed or shifted focus, humidors were no longer the perfect gift, having a professional cigar roller at your wedding or corporate function was no longer essential. In short, the faddish twenty year olds stopped pretending they liked to smoke cigars and the fad faded away. Reading some of the comments by people in their twenties regarding real estate, I get the feeling that their interest in real estate will be as temporary as their interest in smoking cigars. Just as the apparent coolness of smoking a $12 cigar at the W Hotel Bar on Lexington Ave. has been eclipsed by other fads and trends, interest in flipping and “investing” in Hoboken new construction or downtown NYC office conversions seems about to be eclipsed too.