| I re-evaluated my real estate with the help of a trusted Realtor. Although the values went way up, I still used a very conservative low-end of the value spectrum for all three properties and then only took 94% of that low-end value to allow for transaction costs (which total a staggering $258,000).
The stock market continues to melt up. The only thing not melting up is Apple, which seems to be building a base. Ironically, I had a little day-trade in Apple this month and made a whopping $4,000 profit. Otherwise, I'm still in all cash and the S&P is almost 200 points higher than when I bailed out at 1,485. No, I do not feel like a genius.
On another note, I tried buying another beach property this month listed for $1,495,000 and put in an offer of $1,400,000. I never even got a response to my offer. Within a week, the seller had three CASH offers, all for more than the asking price. To anyone paying attention to real estate in the mid-2000's, that sounds eerily familiar.
This is what actually led me to re-evaluate my property holdings. One property, in particular, is a triplex that I bought 12 months ago for $1.1MM. I am told it could sell for $1.575MM "in a few days." That's a gain of about 35% in 12 months -- and nearly 80% of what I invested.
Obviously this kind of excess cannot continue or it will end in tears. And that brings me full circle -- if the cardinal rule of investing is to buy when everyone is selling and sell when everyone if buying, then what do you do now? Overall, I think missing this stock bull market has humbled me once again and taught me how truly difficult it is to time things. |