How Interest Rate Changes Affect REITs?

I chance upon an article on how interest rate changes affect Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and thought of sharing this article to my readers.

In this article, it wrote how REITs react to 2 main factors:- (1) Cost of borrowing changes; and (2) Attractiveness of REIT as an investment asset versus alternative investments. The writer concludes interest rate is a factor, but REIT returns are influenced more by the following instead:

1. Economic growth, population growth, demand and supply dynamics, manufacturing production, jobs demand and supply
2. Valuation of the REIT
3. Manager's Competency

» How Interest Rate Changes Affect REITs | Investment Moats

Rights of a passenger on-board a flight

After seeing how the 69 year old Asian man was rough handled for refusing to leave the overbooked United Airlines plane to make room for additional crew members and hearing most if not all airlines reserve every rights to denial passengers, I decided to read up if such conditions exist.

An excerpt lifted from the 'Conditions of Carriage' of one random airliner:

Notice of refusal to carry you

We will be entitled to refuse to carry you and your Baggage if we have notified you in writing that we will not carry you on our services. The notice will give details of the period for which it will apply and will ask you not to make a Booking or ask or allow anyone to do so for you. If you try to travel while the notice is in force, we will refuse to carry you.

Overbooking

If you are denied boarding due to overbooking of a scheduled flight for which you have a Booking, we will try to get you to your destination within a reasonable time of your original scheduled arrival time. If we do not, we will provide compensation and any care required by any law which may apply or in accordance with our policy if there is no applicable law. This clause 10.3 does not apply if you fail to meet the Check-in Deadline and boarding requirements in 8.1 or we exercise our right to refuse to carry you.

If we are unable to accommodate your Cabin Baggage, we may ask you if we can stow it in the aircraft hold as Checked Baggage. In these circumstances you will not be charged for the relevant Checked Baggage.

That is what we are in for when we tick 'I agree' when making plane tickets booking.

Passenger Dragged Out of United Airlines Plane

A passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight, bound for Louisville from Chicago, by law enforcement security officers after refusing to give up his seat. The aircraft was said to have been overbooked and additional crew members were needed to be on-board to link up for another flight in Louisville. The airline first seek for volunteers to deplane by offering $800 as compensation. When no volunteers stood out, the airline began randomly selecting passengers to be deplaned and that's when things turned ugly.

Chicago Aviation Security Officers were called in to remove an Asian man after the man resisted and refused to cooperate. The following video showed just how the man was being handled.

WARNING: Footage may be disturbing:

Shortly after the above video went viral on the Internet, the United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, posted a letter to its employees and the letter clearly is short of an apology to the passenger:

Dear Team,

Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I’ve included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.

As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.

Oscar

Blood stain on armrest - Tweet claimed the security officers smashed his head / face into the other seat:

@ulttgd They had to deboard to clean up his blood. pic.twitter.com/Hfs1DtqILv

— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017