Church of Real Estate Without Real Estate

Toe, you are the 2nd person I've met in the past 2 weeks who is a real estate preacher, except you are preaching the opposite view. His idea is just to buy as much property as possible. If you can buy, buy, is his philosophy.

But I think you both may be correct, for the housing markets you are each swimming in. Here on the prairie, the prices have not inflated the way they have in your area. They go up maybe 2-3% a year pretty consistently, but there's been no balloon like on the coasts. Of course, that means that unless we hold onto it for a while, we're not going to make much money back when we sell, but it also means that we probably won't have to worry about losing a ton if the bubble bursts in other regions.

But I think I understand what you are saying. It's something I've suspected for a while--that people are fools to think this real estate bubble will last forever, the same way they were in the 90s with the dot-com thing. Unless you are getting in and out quickly (I think of your chess buddy, V, flipping shit), I doubt its wise to expect to make money with property.

There is talk in our town of the passenger train line being extended here. It's now about 15 miles away, on the current freight line, so it seems like a logical progression. The idea is that if we buy a house now, hold onto it until the train line comes out, we'll see more than the usual 2-3% annual increase in price.

I don't know how long we'll be here, but I am beginning to think it might be about 5-6 years. The place is starting to grow on us, and there are debts to pay, so the steady work here is helping. I just can't see renting that entire time. I keep hearing that old adage that rent is "throwing away your money."

But who the hell knows--buying is a gamble, especially when I look at how crappy our national economy sometimes seems to be.

Anyway, I too am all over the place with my thoughts. I have been busy as a line cook lately. I foolishly told my client that I would get this huge project to her by Monday, and it's taking me a lot longer to do than I expected. The good news is that I just assessed my progress on another project for another client, and I'm much further ahead than I expected, so I can probably devote the weekend to the big project. Such a vague report. I better stop right here.

I'm coming to town on Feb 7-9th--will you be around? It would be cool to talk in person.

By the way, the title of this entry is an allusion to Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. If you have not read it, I'll explain sometime.