I had a 1970 chevelle SS with a 396, edelbrock high rise aluminum intake holly 750 double pumper, Hooker Headers, crane cam with some outrageous lift and duration, muncie 4 speed. This puppy would pin you back in your seat, ahhhhh times gone by.
Same general trend as in 88-91 Market takes a dump and people look for other areas to put money. I dealt primarily in Mopars back then, exclusively 440 6 Pack and Hemi cars. Prices rocketed. I see the same thing happening now. Real rusty trash cans commanding 5 figures when they are really worth $5000. Nice cars commanding top dollar. A ton of fakes/clones and numbers matching being represented as original 440-6 and hemi cars when they aren't. People that bought cars back in 88-91 are just now getting back to break even unless it was a VERY RARE piece. There has been a flood of cars on the market, coincidence? I don't think so. I had a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS-6 4 speed convertible car. Awesome for cruising by the beach and leaving burnouts 1/8 mile long. IMO, when the WSJ starts covering the autos, the end is near for that market. Don't want to threadjack.
Tao, "Back to the original question, what asset classes are you guys put your money in? I am about 60% cash, 30% stock and 10% bond. I'll probably buy a second home within next five years." I've posted this somewhere on the site. I like the leverage of unique startups that have a product that will be in big demand. The returns can be 10 baggers. This is "mine". JNR Resources. Uranium explorer. JNN.V. http://www.jnrresources.com/s/Home.asp Click on properties and look at their map. 50% of the world's uranium comes from this little Basin. I've been accumulating for almost 1 yr. Company does not advertise anything. President is a geologist. Bought property when U was in the pits. About 80 miles away is Cameco's huge U mine. Richest in the world. The company's JV partner is the Lundin Group, Sweden (all sorts of energy and rich) although this venture is called International Uranium. I'm done accumulating so that's why I'm posting this. I like it cause somebody said oil would go up. And China said they want to build a reactor each year. India is active too. Also, it is NOT in S. Africa or Russia, the other top locations. Nice chart.
FBI: Mortgage Fraud Is Rampant in U.S. Fraud is running rampant in the nation's mortgage industry, with nearly three times as many reports of suspicious activity so far this year compared with 2001, a top FBI official said Friday. "It has the potential to be an epidemic," said Chris Swecker, FBI assistant director for criminal investigations. Through the first nine months of 2004, mortgage companies and banks have reported more than 12,100 instances of suspicious activity compared with only 4,220 in 2001. The FBI currently has 533 pending mortgage fraud investigations, compared with 102 in 2001. Law enforcement officials say the lending and refinancing boom that accompanied record low interest rates in the past few years is a key reason for the increased fraud. The FBI has identified several "hot spots" around the country where fraud is especially prevalent, including Florida, California, Nevada, Michigan, Missouri and Illinois. "You can find this anywhere in the country," Swecker told reporters. One common mortgage fraud scheme is "property flipping," in which property is purchased, appraised fraudulently at a much higher price and then quickly sold. The mortgage holder is then left with property actually worth much less than the loan it issued. Other schemes involve fake identities and credit histories, use of "straw buyers" to conceal the true buyer's name and forged loan documents. Mortgage fraud is one of several financial crimes that the FBI has been targeting for extra attention in recent months. This effort, which involves 47 FBI field offices, has resulted in more than 151 charges since August in cases with potential losses to banks and other businesses of an estimated $3 billion
There's some money to be made on Pre-constructions I've made some small investment in the past month here in FL (two small properties) You can get 50 to 300% return take a look at some develpments in homestead,FL and Frisco,TX.. You just put the downpayment and dont pay anything else till the apartment is finish... For expample my friend got an apartment in pre-construction a year ago for about 80k he put 4k as a downpayment He sold the apart. for 120 when is was finished so he make 40k profit(before taxes and those expenses) in 9 month I dont think that real state is death... Just slow down in some areas (this industry is huge) I know some people in FL who buy 10,15 pre-costruction properties at cheap price at once and sell them all for a nice profit
"...Pulte Homes garnered a considerable amount of local attention earlier this year after it increased home prices in a Summerlin subdivision [west-northwest Vegas] by as much as $142,000 in less than two months..." The above teaser excerpted from the article below is just one of many sometimes dichotomous variables upon which even a steadfastly healthy residential real estate market like the Las Vegas area has ebbed and flowed during this year while remaining strong relative to some other large U. S. cities. How many arguments made in this thread as to measuring sustained viability of future profits - pro and con - can be found in this glimpse of the state of the Vegas housing market: Buyers gaining advantage in Vegas housing market by Jennifer Shubinski, In Business Las Vegas, 09-17-2004 In addition, because of 20+ years of ever-increasing population growth, The Valley has virtually run out of large tract BLM-owned land - auctioned off at record prices to developers (the last large privately-owned land was purchased many years ago), while high-rise residential developers are falling over themselves purchasing parcels up and down and around the Strip. (Not to mention more announced multi-$billion high-rise casino resort-style hotels). "...It's all relative to price [in residential sales]..." Well, yes, but is a huge bubble approaching...or stealthily already at a bursting point...for housing-as-investment (even solely-as-shelter) purchase, and resale......? It can't be - this is Vegas! ... right?...
Hmmm.... 70% of Nevada's population is squeezed into a valley in its southern tip - the burgeoning Las Vegas area - affectionately known as...uh, oh...Sin City... ...and already with 65,000 home sales to date this year...