Posted on August 26, 2010 @ 7:09 pm - Written by BawldGuy
So far this month there’s been a renewal of callers wishing to talk about locations offering appreciation in value. They couch it in amorphous language, but when the smoke clears, long term or not, they’re wanting to buy properties that’ll go up in value.
I wanna be a 23 years old major league pitcher with an indestructible right arm capable of throwing 140 pitches every fifth day at roughly 97 mph. Oh, and I wanna be able to have pinpoint control with not only my fastball, but my killer curve, and my virtually un-hitable sinking change-up.
I know, I’m bein’ a first degree smart-aleck. But you get the gist, right? Nobody — well, almost nobody, is sayin’ that appreciation can’t or won’t ever become reality again. But there are a couple lines here that’ll need to cross. The line that stretches down the road year after year ’till appreciation returns — and the line dictating when you shuffle off this mortal coil. 
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Posted on August 17, 2010 @ 6:27 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Back in the day my mentors would regale me with real estate investment stories about the early 1950’s. Having been born in the summer of ‘51 I was all ears. I heard a common thread in most of their tales, until that is, we hit the end of 1975 or so. The ‘way it always was’ began to change — radically. They began to notice not so subtle changes in the local market, and they didn’t like it one bit. No siree.
Prices started rising in what would be the first of a long cycle of up a bunch, down a bit, up a bunch more, etc. I’m not sure it was indeed a paradigm shift as a matter of fact, but to them that’s exactly what it was. One of ‘em was so put out by what he saw through the rest of the 70’s he retired earlier than planned, headin’ back home to Wyoming. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 23, 2010 @ 9:02 am - Written by BawldGuy
Written By — Chad Emerson
As I mentioned last week, eventually there was going to be some profit-taking going on at The Wall, and that’s what we saw Thursday. Looks like the Dow has made some recovery, up another 200 today as I write this. Interest rates had a slight tick upwards of 1/8th of a percent. Federal Reserve Chairman a.k.a. ‘Big Ben’ spoke to the HSFC today and repeated exactly what he told the SBC yesterday, that we are still chartering unknown waters, and the economy is showing minor glimpses of improvement from time to time. But, I really think that this is more wishful thinking because he went on to say that the FED is ready to help bolster growth even if that means more purchases of MBS. If you remember, several months ago, the FED stopped purchasing MBS, and this obviously wouldn’t be needed if the economy was improving, but we’ll take a wait-and-see approach. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 24, 2010 @ 3:44 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Beginning in 1976 or so, real estate investors, especially in markets like San Diego, the general SoCal region, much of NoCal (Palo Alto is an example), and a few other regions around the country, began to be conditioned to expect values to rise significantly over time. In fact, from 1976 through the end of 2005, their expectations were met without a single exception, long term. The cycle became not only reliable, but predictable. Appreciation, often double digits, would raise values for 3-4 years, much longer for this last one. Recession would cool things off, prices would either flatten out, maybe recede a bit. But they would always resume the seemingly inexorable march to ever higher prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18, 2010 @ 4:30 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Written By — John Park
Many of us remember our first “dive” into the municipal swimming pool or lake. Once we overcame the trepidation of diving head first into the expansive body of water, did we dive in completely or just halfway?
The same is true with self-directing your retirement assets. While your plan must be established and continually adhere with all IRS and, if applicable, Department of Labor regulations, the code in no way prevents a fiduciary (e.g., you, yes it can be you) from controlling all aspects of the plan.
This is true provided the fiduciary is not “self-dealing”, which is expressly prohibited. A fiduciary can only act in the best interests of the retirement plan, and may not personally benefit. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 5, 2010 @ 6:30 pm - Written by BawldGuy
You’ve read it here before, but it’s crazy sometimes how a cluster of calls and emails will come in a 3-5 day period, all essentially about the same topic. It’s entirely possible this phenomena happens due to something I’ve written, but sometimes I can’t ferret out a common denominator. This week it’s been real estate investors who’ve done more than reasonably well, or on the cusp of that level. All of them have been smarter than the average bear, and all except one has been decidedly experienced.
Though they may recognize themselves here, I’m gonna change some factoids to give them some cover for privacy.
I’ll be writing next week about what I might recommend they change in their approach, long term. However, make no mistake — they’ve already done better than 98% of real estate investors you may know. Two of the three have generated enough cash flow to retire — one has more or less, kinda sorta semi-retired. One is still havin’ fun, and I quote, ‘…building my empire’. He’s been spectacularly successful with his current strategy, as has the semi-retired guy. The only thing that exceeded his success so far, was the genuine humility he displayed during our conversation. In fact, now that I think about it, they were all unassuming, humble guys. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 28, 2010 @ 10:04 am - Written by BawldGuy
Yesterday got away from me, so I’ll talk a bit about what I’ve been thinkin’ lately about my local market, San Diego County. Before I start, I sure wish somebody had warned me about how all the women involved in wedding planning go totally nutball crazy — and that it only gets worse as the date approaches. Each week I seem to lose more hours saluting intense looking ladies as I march off to do their bidding.
Anywho, I’ve been toolin’ up for my imminent return to the San Diego investment property market. Ya might wanna get that look of horror off yer face, cuz I still refuse to be a part of any Brown and Brown client investing long term in San Diego — ain’t gonna happen. What will be happening is the orderly migration of local investment property equities to regions better suited to achieving the investor’s original Plan — to retire well. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 21, 2010 @ 5:33 pm - Written by BawldGuy
It’s easy to say, isn’t? Just make time your friend. Rolls right off the tongue effortlessly. Like so many things in life, an easy concept to grasp. The execution? Not always so. What can you do to get time over to your side of the table?
First thing outa da chute ya wanna understand what happens when ya lose. Most times, it’s not catastrophic. It’s a down year maybe, sometimes more. If the loss leaves your income property viable, as is the case most of the time, the real downside is what happens after the smoke clears. And what’s that? You’re on the investment treadmill, that’s what. You get tired, but end up going nowhere. It’s the time it takes for you to get back to where you were before the loss — time you’ll never get back. Why is it so important? Simple — while you’re spendin’ three years just gettin’ back to square one, you will have also had three birthdays. At that point, time wasn’t your friend. Read the rest of this entry »