Thread: when Invest then only in Real Estae.....isn't it?

Agreed, the more time and research spent on learning the market and different options can greatly benefit a real estate investor

I agree and I don't at the same time. You can tell real estate investors from those who sell real estate.
Real estate is a good vehicle and I have a lot invested in it not just in land but my own real estate company, too. The problem I have a lot with is everyone is out to get the cash. That is fine, but when it gets into cheating, pushing the limit with someone who doesn't really understand what they are doing... is wrong. That same investor who inflated their property they are selling will turn around and cut a part a property they are looking at. They hold two different values for them self. I believe that is what ultimately crashed this market. Everyone put this perceived value that wasn't based on what an investor needs or what the true market can hold.
The other areas that are just as important are paper assets, that doesn't mean just stocks. I invest, and recently a lot, in personal loans.
You should also be a part of returning cash to the market. To do this, you could own companies and employee people and buy products. If you look around and think about how the tenants pay rent, how the real investor gets his 20% cash to deposit, how banks get its capital to give loans you will see that cash has to move... it has to produce. It has to be earned and worked for.
The imbalance that broke the market is when people saw they can grab an item, do almost nothing but jack the price up and push it to someone else. It would work if within 2 steps, someone who has the money, not the loan, could stop the process and own it. Locking down the value and stabilizing the market. But, it went from hand to hand in a quick contract style and when the couple who just started their new life wanted the American dream, got the property, they were at the mercy of the inflated market.
When you view cash as The item that makes you wealthy, then when that item, at this time is cash, becomes less valuable, then all you have is paper. You need to focus on vehicles that can produce growth whether the value of the dollar is there or not. That may sound like a contradictory statement but those who own companies, invest portions of their cash in growth rather than stuff it in their pockets, understands. It is a topic that could fuel discussions for a long time.
So, to sum it up, that old cliche, "don't put all your eggs into one basket," is true once again. Find areas, I like real estate, 50% of my cash, stocks, 20% of my cash and personal loans, 30% of my cash. When I say cash, this is the profits my companies produce. Out of that pie, 20% goes into investment, 50% goes into upgrades and new products, and the rest is what my family uses up.

It is not only on real state,I guess. Real state is a good investment as of the statement, "properties always appreciates and never depreciates". The success in this industry is based on 50% agent/seller skills and 50% on the property. Well,it is better to know all the aspects that affects the real state business and get updated for further improvement on the techniques on selling the properties and on keeping the trends on how to advertise your business.

Well, the discussion has become so conflictual but i do agree with you all that We should do invest in a real estate property business but apart from this big investment we should also take some small investments like stocks, personal loans etc to let the cash flow running and we could bear the losses if we had some in real estate investment and we could make it up from our other investments too. So, always widen your horizons and complete your research before put hands in such risky deeds...... while you must take your profit from investments and take cash back flowing in the market....

Originally Posted by Ortigas houses

It is not only on real state,I guess. Real state is a good investment as of the statement, "properties always appreciates and never depreciates".

Well, I hope that you know that statement isn't true - just look at the current markets today.

Now I am NOT against RE investing - have been doing it for a while now, and I will not stop either - it is an AWESOME investment vehicle. What investor need to understand is: WHAT IS THERE GOAL in investing in a piece of real estate? If you intend to "flip" - then yes price is important. If "buy and hold" - then price is not important, +CF (positive cash flow) is. I will buy properties above FMV if there is maintainable +CF... To me, the price is not as important as the terms.

Say someone said that I could acquire a property, with a FMV of $100K (an example) for $150K (again, an example to really drive the point across,) where the seller would carry back a note for 10-years, where it was a no-interest, no-payment... I would jump over that all day - getting a property, where I could collect rents and not worry about mortgage payments for 10 years!! Who cares what I paid for it! Now if the FMV of the property was still less than $150K in 10 years, so what - give it back to the note holder (deed-in-lieu of FC,) or renegotiate the note (if the note holder doesn't want it; ) endless options.

Now of course this is an EXTREME example - again to show a point.

Appreciation, depreciation - it really doesn't matter - until you sell - just like stocks - you can't lose (or make) money until you sell - barring the company doesn't fold (which is a forced sell.)

Hope this helps shed some light on RE investing to some.