Looking in the Rear view Mirror
This week I am taking a much needed vacation with my wife and kids in Colorado on the mountain in Breckenridge. We have rented a large house on the mountain next to the ski slopes. We will be staying for two weeks. We normally take this same vacation for one week usually during the Christmas week due to the fact that our children have been in the typical school program and we would break and get away when they were out for the holidays. I’m sure most of you can relate. Not this year, back during the summer my wife approached me with the idea that she would home school our children. Talk about thinking out of the box. After several months of research we made the decision to home school our children and also be free of someone else’s schedule. I believe my children are now getting the focused education they deserve. This has been great, we have been to Florida to stay in our condo on the beach during times we could have never before on the former school system schedule and now we are in Colorado having a great time making memories my boys will never forget. Over and over I see people get into the rut of tracking with the neighbors, or going through life doing it like everyone else is. This is the case for friends I have as I watch them grow old; they are in a comfortable rut. I love them to death, but they choose to do things every year just like they did it the year before and like they have been doing it for the last 50 years.
I woke up this morning still in bed and grabbed the remote control for the electric blinds. As they opened in front of me through the 12 by 24 window I saw the mountains at 12000 ft, the sun shining and the snow falling. All this because 15 years ago I started investing in preconstruction real estate and have been able over the years to think out of the box. Preconstruction real estate is about controlling real estate not owning real estate. Consider purchasing a $500k property in a market that is appreciating at 15% per year with only $50k. That’s leverage at its best.
As I take vacation in the mountains over the next few weeks we have friends and business partners coming and going at different times to share the snow and the sights with us. There will be discussions ranging from family to the million dollar question: When will we see the bottom of this real estate market?
I often find vacation a time when I reflect on this past year and start to try and think out side the box as I formulate my ideas for next years goals. Back to the million dollar question, when will we see the bottom of this real estate market? I believe we are only going to see the bottom of this market in our rear view mirror. Most investors will wait until the next stage of the real estate cycle to start investing again and will miss the bottom of this market. Real estate investments should be made with a four year plan in place to ride the market based on good fact based decisions about the fundamentals in the market you are investing in. I believe from a macro view the world indicators like interest rates, weather, stock market, current fed rates and others that impact real estate on a grand scale will only set the stage for primary markets to flourish. I am currently focusing on isolated markets that have strong fundamental bases with long term growth plans in tact. The smart money is getting back into the real estate market now while there are buyers market terms available.
Steve Presley
Stevepresley.com