Artis Real Estate Investment Pref Shs Series E T.AX.PR.E

RE:DZTRADER

[DZtrader]

Gotta be careful there was almost a compliment in there! I was vocal and against this new stratagy then and still am today. Not just because it is unconventional however I felt like it took away choice, as in MY choice. I choose a company to invest in that I want, good/bad, right/wrong, it is my choice. By virtue of their new stratagy they essentially (to a small extent) became a sub broker if you will, MY choice is gone. Now to be clear, it is not this change of course that has caused them these precipitous declines, far from it. It may however be responsible for a portion of the declines. Now, had we been in a somewhat different situation and the companies he bought provided solid returns, well, he might look like a hero. Personally however, I put far greater emphasis on missteps in a stratagy and everyday business acumen then having been able to add other companies shares to our holdings, even IF they were more sucessful. While I believe Manji to be a smart enough individual, he has mismanaged the debt with this company badly. He rolled the dice with interest rates at a time someone in his position should well have known better. Not sure anyone didn't foresee rising rates coming. It was a fairly significant and very costly error in my opinion. That being said, we will likely get through but not without scars. I think it is going to be awhile for Artis to dig itself out of the hole it has found itself in (like a good number of other reits), however I do believe the time is now to start nibbling on reits selectively. I like more industrial weighted reits like Granite et al. There is however still a sizable overhang in this sector so be cautious.