2020 was clearly a year that was unlike any I had experienced. We entered the start of the Roaring 20s in good shape economically. Unfortunately this was... Read More
The situation we’re in today lends itself to thinking about the famous Donald Rumsfeld soliloquy about known knowns and known unknowns and unknown unknowns.... Read More
I don’t think one can overstate the importance and value of resilience in life. Events will take place that we are not prepared for financially, emotionally,... Read More
…Never did that before. I think that is a trite, apt description about the economic and social impact of the response to COVID-19. Our economy had gone... Read More
One of the great things about CWS and our 50+ years of longevity is that we have a tremendous amount of content that we can fall back on to review the... Read More
At CWS we subscribe to apartment market reports produced by Witten Advisors. Ron Witten, the principal of the firm, has spoken at our Annual Investor Meeting... Read More
With approximately 75% of our loans at CWS being floating rate, we have a strong interest (pun intended) in following the direction of short term interest... Read More
The following is an excerpt of my presentation at CWS’ annual investor meeting. 2019 is CWS’ 50th year. This is quite an accomplishment and worthy of celebration.... Read More
Warren Buffett has dramatically outperformed the market and his peers over his 50+ year investment career. This has been the case more so because of his... Read More
Bill Williams is fond of quoting Erasmus when he says “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” Of course this means that very few people... Read More
There has naturally been a lot of concern over rising interest rates as approximately 80% of our debt is variable-rate. Until this point we have been able... Read More
One of the mantras we like to say at CWS that is borrowed from Buddhist thought is “Eat when we’re hungry and sleep when we’re tired.” We want to design... Read More
Tax reform is a big deal and that is why it does not happen very frequently. It can also have some very large unintended consequences. The 1981 tax law... Read More
Some time has passed since the devastating flooding that took place in Houston. This has allowed us to wrap our arms around the damage and to formulate... Read More
I just celebrated my 30th year with CWS and I have been so fortunate to have worked in one place with such great people for all of these years. It has... Read More
This is my 30th year at CWS so I thought this would be an appropriate time to look back on some important trends during my three decades at CWS and to... Read More
2017 should be quite an interesting year. We have a new President for which there is very little historical parallel. Donald Trump has clearly shown he... Read More
“To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a... Read More
Since late 2011 I have been tracking how the cost of our variable rate loans have compared to the fixed-rate options we could have chosen at the time of... Read More
Over the years I have found that it is good discipline to take the time to articulate in writing the hypotheses that are the basis of making an investment.... Read More
2015 was a pretty interesting year and so is the beginning of 2016. 2015 was so challenging from an investment perspective that, according to a report... Read More
Over the years I have written about individuals who have had a great influence on my thinking in business and life. Examples include Shakespeare, Charlie... Read More
In a recent blog post, I wrote about my trip to Santa Clara, CA to see one of the final "Fare Thee Well" shows for the Grateful Dead, commemorating their... Read More
One of the most important pieces of advice that I could give for not only positioning oneself for success in the world of investing, but probably in life... Read More
It would be naïve and utterly foolish to believe that Houston won’t be negatively impacted by the significant drop in oil prices in such a short period... Read More
It’s important to me that our investors, current and prospective, have an understanding of how CWS operates. A lot goes into making investment decisions... Read More
The focus of this article is to illuminate two important ways CWS generates long-term return for our investors. The first way is providing investors with... Read More
I have heard someone ask the question, “How do you avoid an avalanche?...Don’t be on the mountain when one occurs.” If an investment drops by 50%, then... Read More
A few years ago I came across letters written by Warren Buffet to his investors prior to Berkshire Hathaway being his sole investment vehicle. Between... Read More
This article will be shorter than others as I would like the numbers to do the talking as well as Bill Gross from PIMCO. For those of you who have paid... Read More
We had people over recently and I was distressed to pull a bottle of wine out of the wine cooler to find that it was not very cool. I impatiently tried... Read More
There is a line from a Talking Heads song that says, “Say something once, why say it again?”. I am usually a firm believer in this “less is more” communication... Read More
I really enjoyed the movie Silver Linings Playbook. In fact, I saw it twice I liked it so much. Rather than discuss what the movie is about, I thought... Read More
The graph at the top of page 2 speaks volumes about the collapse in the lending market for owner-occupied home purchases in the United States. This picture... Read More
This July I will have completed my 25th year at CWS. Having just returned from a great trip to England that ended with a couple of days in Stratford-upon-Avon,... Read More
The following article is a summary of the key points and charts I presented at our annual investor meeting that took place on April 2, 2012 Read More
The economic system had pulled out of its sinking spell of 1929-33 only to become a chronic invalid, whose temperature was lower now in the mornings but... Read More
For many people in my world, the most shocking event of last quarter was the collapse of Treasury yields which led to the 10-year Treasury note yield dropping... Read More
For a long time I have felt that to be successful in business, and in life for that matter, one of the necessary traits is to be an effective hypothesis... Read More
Note: If you attended our Annual Investor Meeting then this article may be repetitive since it was the basis of my presentation. Read More
Sometimes there is a picture that really is worth 1,000 words, or in my case, closer to 1,400. CWS has owned apartments on an uninterrupted basis since... Read More
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog. Blogging is pretty much a 24/7 endeavor for it to be relevant and fresh. So rather than doing that right now,... Read More
“The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.” John Maynard Keynes Read More
This quarter was particularly challenging to find a relevant and interesting topic for my article. I feel like I have said what needs to be said over and... Read More
“Well now, everything dies, baby, that’s a fact But maybe everything that dies someday comes back” Bruce Springsteen, “Atlantic City” Read More
National job losses have been massive over the last year. We have now returned to a level of employment that we had in 2005. The following chart shows... Read More
“The wonder on this side of the Atlantic deepens, in view of these circumstances, that Chamberlain remains in office. In the five years previous to the... Read More
Two caveats: If you dislike a lot of numbers, then this article is not for you. In addition, if you’re hoping to get the answer to the question posed... Read More
At the peak of home lending insanity, lenders aggressively sought borrowers to provide them financing of up to 125% of the (inflated) value of their homes. Read More