For Me It Is Essential That We Retain Our Land.

And make every effort to secure more land to add to that which is being returned in the settlement. But its not enough to just have land the land must be the type that we can grow our kumara on. Most of the land PNBST is getting back is reserve and conservation land and even if it were useable we would have fight on our hands to get past the powers that be to use it ofr any thing other than conservation. Shelly Bay is a example of useable land, however there is only little bit of flat land at the bottom but mostly steep and unusable. Great bit of land commercial but no good for the kumara. I am keen to work with the Trust to build upon the commercial assets that we have in way that will best advantage the whanau, mokopuna and future generations. Commercial Property The commercial property market at the moment is very depressed and the out look for at least the next 3 years is that it will get worse. Commercial land values will continue on a downward drift and the signs are that it could take up to 5 years before we see any significant turn around. This isnt all bad how ever, while PNBST property will drift down in value in market it is only a paper value because we're not in the market to sell. For the investors who are cashed up the dip in the market represents a great opportunity to buy more assets at the devalued price. PNBST did receive a large lump sum of cash but that cash has been allocated to the immediate purchase of the most beneficial property accusations. So while PNBST aren’t cashed up so to speak, PNBST do have considerable security in existing free hold assets. This gives us the ability to leverage against the assets to raise funds to purchase further strategic property. Taking this point to another level. This high equity free hold property equals low risk. To an investor PNBST could represent a safe investment opportunity and more so if the property was generating an income. While PNBST isn’t an investment company, I believe the opportunity is there and if it were taken up this would give the trust potential access to a considerable amount of investment funds. This is something I would certainly encourage the trust to consider. If they chose to put together an investment prospectus I would probably cash up some of my residential investments and invest in the PNBST investment fund my self. PNBST Investment Company PNBST as an investment company might sound far fetched however we are share holders in a multi million dollar trust which holds millions of dollars of commercial assets. We also have first option to purchase another 2000 government held properties. First refusal to purchase these property is great but its not going to happen with out money. Solution, an investment company. There are thousands of Mom & Dad investors in New Zealand who have lost Billions over the last three or so years. They have been the victims of shonky Investment Company’s, very risky investment opportunities and some of the worst investment advice ever seen on such a scale in this country.  Many of these investors have been completely cleaned out and that is disgraceful. There are however many who have been lucky enough not to get caught and wise enough to have divested their investments. Those that still have money are looking for investment opportunity’s that pay better than the banks are safe and as risk free as possible.  Mom & Dad investors aren’t the only investors out there. Business people, Trusts and corporate organisations’ are also looking for safe investments and there are Billions of Dollars that could be taped into. PNBST could be that safe investment option with existing high equity low debt, free hold positively geared commercial property. Further more we have the opportunity to buy more top quality property with top quality tenants. i.e. Government property, government tenants. Property doesn’t get any more risk free. PNBST is one of the few Trusts in the country that could offer such property as an investment. If we want to build our property port folio then we need to take advantage of the property redress opportunity’s that have been made available in the settlement (and I would like to see it happen sooner rather than later) then here is the opportunity. PNBST should go down the path of setting up an investment company and make hast to raise funds through the private sector to acquire the property that has been set aside for us. Obviously the first people we should put the opportunity before is PNBST member Mom & Dad investors, other settlement trusts and mäori commercial entity’s. Yes I know this is a tall order and some would say just a dream but I can’t see any reason why we can’t do it and a whole bunch of reasons we should. Of course the next step is PNBST Bank.  PNBST BANK.  Watch this space because I have a whole bunch of ideas on this to.