There has been a lot of talk in the news about switching back to a ‘gold standard’. Whether this is something that it really viable, will happen or how it would effect real estate investing is yet to be seen. Though at least one investor has already accepted gold instead of cash for a lease deposit.
Donald Trump stole the headlines of the Wall Street Journal again last week. No, not for another attempt at running for President but for his commercial real estate lease agreement at 40 Wall Street. Instead of paying cash for the $176,000 security deposit the new tenant handed over 3, 32 ounce gold bars.
Clearly this is another ploy by Trump to grab the headlines more than a change in the way he does business, but you can imagine it feels pretty cool to walk away from the closing table with a few gold bricks. For every day real estate investing of course this is just a tad impractical, between the risk of taking gold and the chances someone might want to jump you for it on the way home. Though, diversifying your holdings is not a bad idea and keeping a few gold bars handy for emergencies may not be a bad idea for every real estate investing business.
However, perhaps the most important lesson or thought from this piece of news is to look at how you can capitalize on current hot topics to generate free press for your real estate investing company. It could be jobs or how you are embracing new virtual business models and mobile tools or maybe you will accept gold for rent too. Give it some thought and raise your brand awareness without having to fork over big money for print advertising.
