It was 1981 and I was 26 years old and determined to buy my first house. I had to borrow the down payment and all I could afford was a handyman's special in West Groton Massachusetts. Interest rates on home loans were more like today's credit card rates. We were experiencing terrible inflation. The Iran hostage crisis was just getting over after watching a it on the news every night for over a year. Gasoline was over a dollar a gallon, god knows what that is in today's money. Now that's REAL doom and gloom.
However I forged ahead with my life and dream of owning a piece of property. I spent $35,000.00 on my handyman special and spent the next 5 years fixing it up.
In 1986 I sold it in a very hot market. In just 24 hours I had a full price offer of $146,000.00 !! That was a $111,000.00 profit.
The moral of my story is that you can't predict the future. Market timing doesn't work in the stock market and it doesn't work in real estate. What ever you buy today will look like a steal 10 years from now.
Comments(9)