WHAT!!! Is going on with the Stock Market!

nms

Over the long term real estate is a very good investment, because the supply is nearly constant globally, and the demand is climbing as the population increases.

As for your doomsday predictions, we've got some pretty smart people running the Fed and other financial institutions. For the past 60 years or so they've done a good job at keeping things on an even keel, and I have little evidence to suggest that they'll suddenly go stupid Yes, a recession is coming, but I highly doubt it will be any worse than the one in the early/mid 80s, which was EXTREMELY mild compared to the 1929 depression.

jflail2

NMS:

RE is a good investment; wouldn't touch a homebuilder with a 20 ft pole right now tho. They have lost their collective @sses over the last couple of years, and I don't see the ship righting anytime soon.........

Silver:

Precious metals are a good tin foil hat investment (kidding )

SKsolutions

There are a lot of people that I've done business with that are pulling out of the market and are looking to Real Estate. RE is a always a good investment, IF you buy right. In this market, I still work with investors packaging smaller development deals, but you have to calculate your margin with market drop, and you'd better know your product and market better than you know your own Polks. Foreclosures will keep downward pressure on most multi-family/rental/investment property over the next couple of years, so there's some time. Rates are excellent at the moment, and time should shorten the spread by edging rates a bit lower as well. At the Lenders/Banks, Non-conforming, Jumbos, and Investor rates are the new Sub-prime, so if you're in for the long haul, buy with a conforming deposit, even if you have to borrow it from family, and get the lowest rate you can. Mortgage people WILL negotiate, just get it in writing, and look them in the eye, not over the phone. I believe B of A bailed out Countrywide, and I know their credit rating tanked. There were some rumors, but you could google it.

The upside to RE is more in the tax benefit, depreciation cycle, property appreciation, and tangibility. It's real. It doesn't crash, and it's insured again Loss. At the end of your depreciation (20 year MA) cycle, you can 1031 exchange to avoid Cap Gain tax, and swap up till you are ready to retire, or drop dead. You can also roll over to a REIT, or TIC, and live of the return without having to pay the gain. If you set it up right, you can bequeath it without much/any hit as well.

I'd buy some silver. . and make a nice hat.

PolkWannabie

SKsolutions wrote: »

It's real. It doesn't crash

Everything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it whether it's part ownership in a company ( Stocks ), a pair of speakers or real estate. When there's a large gap between supply and demand then there's usually a sharp adjustment in price to reach equilibrium again. Real estate is no more immune to this then anything else. It's happened before, it'll happen again.

PolkWannabie

PolkThug wrote: »

Remember, its not about 'timing the market', its about 'time in the market'. ;-)

Try telling that to the folks that decided to hold onto high fliers in late 99. They'll need a few more decades of "time in the market" to catch up to where they were before the fact.

Systems

If I really had money, I should have short sold on Financial . mortgage stocks. It was like that in high school when in a moc-stock market game, my team won #1 because we dumped out fake $100000 in a goofy stalk called Microsoft and it just about doubled in 3 months. If that were only real money.

I’m hearing about guys making bucket loads of money in the past 2 years shorting that market.

jflail2

SKsolutions wrote: »

The upside to RE is more in the tax benefit, depreciation cycle, property appreciation, and tangibility. It's real. It doesn't crash, and it's insured again Loss. At the end of your depreciation (20 year MA) cycle, you can 1031 exchange to avoid Cap Gain tax, and swap up till you are ready to retire, or drop dead. You can also roll over to a REIT, or TIC, and live of the return without having to pay the gain. If you set it up right, you can bequeath it without much/any hit as well.

I'd buy some silver. . and make a nice hat.

REITs are currently trading at an average discount of about 16% to NAV. They have been down since Feb. of this year, but are certainly not out. You also have to be careful which sectors you consider when investing in REITs. Industrial REITs are currently the only sector trading at a premium to NAV...


REITs as a whole have been considered excellent, stable investments b/c the REIT has to return 90% of taxable income to shareholders to maintain their tax status. And like SK said, REITs enable you to invest in a physical, (for the most part) appreciating asset that is covered against losses.

Not much way to avoid capital gains taxes etc investing in a REIT unless you actually contribute a property in exchange for OP Units....and I don't have any spare commercial properties lying around, but at least "your earnings" are not taxed twice (as the REIT does not pay corporate taxes if they maintain their status.)

Laugh at precious metals if you will, but its actually not a bad investment at all. Bags of gold, silver etc are safe, liquid investments that can still appreciate in value (versus tucking a 20$ under your pillow; which will be worth about 5$ in 20 years...)

Not bad for 1 year returns: 23%. gold/oz. goes from $650 to about $800. 5 year; $350 to $800.

Silver has seen similar appreciation over the last 5-7 years, and there is a finite supply of it, so I don't see how it's terrible investment...

Anyhoo.

SKsolutions

I was actually serious about silver but there was a somewhat lame joke mixed in. . . What attracts me is what I see as. . . .scarce unregulated supply, high consumption in products, and a lot of people looking to move to hard assets. I believe silver has outperformed gold over the last few years except for the last push lately. At 15 per ounce, and already having broken several cycle indicating thresholds, it's poised for what could be exponential growth. I am looking to add some 100 Troys to the mattres