That was one of my Granny’s favorite teachings. Granny wasn’t a wealthy woman or one who fancied expensive things, but she had a great clarity about the world. Observing today’s institutional investment industry, it seems as though many participants never got Granny’s message. While this may be true broadly in that arena, for the purpose of this column I will focus upon a particularly glaring example in core real estate investing. “Core” is defined as ultra-high-quality real estate that is characterized by its excellent location and its history of stabilized tenancy and cash flow. It also happens to be the largest segment of investors’ real estate allocations, accounting for much more than 50 percent of the total.

The thinking by investors has been that assembling and managing a portfolio of this type of property doesn’t require a high level of hands-on management or too much talent. This has led investors to favor those managers who will work for the lowest f