"BUY LOW" is the classic advice for buying real estate. But how low is low enough? I say, a BETTER STRATEGY is to just BUY STUPID. Funny thing, you can get rich much faster being stupid. Just ask Forrest Gump.
When you buy stupid, you don't need to wonder when the market will bottom out. Nope, all you need to do is announce your intention to buy real estate at any gathering. If every one else in the room thinks you're stupid, your timing is perfect. Go ahead and let them tell you all the reasons NOT to buy real estate, and why you are stupid.
BLAH BLAH BLAH....the economy. BLAH BLAH BLAH.....interest rates. BLAH BLAH BLAH....(fill in the blank with latest natural/political disaster). Smile, and resolve to start dialing your real estate team. The time is right.
The Loma Prieta earthquake devastated Santa Cruz, California on October 17th, 1989. The downtown was pretty much destroyed and the city (one of the most beautiful coastal towns in all of California) was "blamed" for the death and destruction that rocked much of Northern California, including the famous freeway collapse in the Bay Area.
To add injury to insult, soon afterwards a highly unusual freeze killed nearly all tropical vegetation in Santa Cruz, causing mass defoliation to much of the landscaping. The place could not have been any uglier, or anymore down and out, when I looked at my brother and said, "Let's buy a beach house in Santa Cruz".
I was only half kidding, and everyone else howled with laughter thinking our idea was pretty stupid. But we were soon the owners of a house with a view of white caps, and a one block walk to a gorgeous stretch of sand.
The price was unbelievably low that foggy, rainy day we made an even lower than asking price offer. There was NO damage to the house from the earthquake, but the rest of the world continued to think Santa Cruz might crack and fall into the Pacific Ocean, never to be seen again.
In spite of what everyone else thought, the only aftershock we ever experienced was how the house SOARED IN VALUE.
I later bought real estate when everyone else was investing in technology stocks. I helped our daughter purchase real estate during the economic melt down after 911. Both of these houses were bought far below market on gloomy rainy December days, and soon blossomed into houses worth far more.
Hey, California is STILL California.
Most people would think buying real estate in California right now is sort of, well, stupid. BLAH BLAH BLAH...still going down in value. BLAH BLAH BLAH.....mortgage crisis. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH....what are you, stupid?
Yeah, all the way to the bank.
P.S. Heads up. Gloomy December days coming.
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