The Core
Why We Are Here => Economics & Investing => Topic started by: dogboy on March 31, 2012, 09:36:32 PM
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I think we are dangerously close to a sale...
(http://thumbs.trulia-cdn.com/pictures/thumbs_4/ps.41/8/9/6/7/picture-uh=bce231fa7d2571526fadbf6d17b559e-ps=8967c386f6c37ee08ad28ae1c90252d.jpg)
...going to skate out breaking even on the sale price. Definitely not breaking even overall, but relatively speaking, we are going to make out fine if we seal the deal.
Then, I don't know...
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Where do you want to move too?
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Yeah, that's a damn good question:) Another one...possibly related to the first... is what to do with the money.
Buy another place, up in the mountains for a retreat? I'm not dying to go live in the middle of nowhere at the moment, so even if I do get a cabin, I don't plan on actually living there.
Buy a foreclosed condo down here, or something that doesn't have so much maintenance, I can just rent out if I want to live somewhere else?
Fine jewelry?
(http://www.techvisionmedia.com/stc/baller.jpg)
...Stay here? Move to the Keys? No idea. Right now I need to get this place sold. Then, I'll need to get all this stuff up to to my sister's in TN and whatever she doesn't want, I take up to a storage building we have up North. So much for my motorcycle trip; I can go that way by moving van.
Any advice? Buy a cabin in the smokys, a condo in Florida, and another round of metals? Where can you store wealth during times such as these? I'm not even asking where you can make money, just preserve value. My read on the economy is that it appears to be rebounding but it's going to take a crap shortly, and I'll be able to buy that florida house at 1/2 of what I will hopefully sell it for. That's why I want out now. By the same token, moving everything to a stronger cash position doesn't make me sleep well either, since you get no interest at the bank in a best case scenario, and in a worst case scenario it evaporates away in hyperinflation or some other calamity.
Stock market is screaming for a correction.
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If you've got a solid offer, grab the money and run.
Find a cheaper urban place to live, then start shopping for the retreat property you've been dreaming about.
A note re jewelry: Fine jewelry has many delights, and will hold its value better than many things you could spend money on, but don't think of it as an investment unless you really, really know what you're doing, gemologically speaking, and have well-established connections in the industry.
For most people, the problem with jewelry is that we buy the goodies at retail, but if we ever want to sell a piece we won't get more than wholesale value.
Keep in mind that the price of diamonds is controlled and manipulated by a cartel, and if the cartel ever loses its grip the price of diamonds has nowhere to go but down. The price of gemstones is more market-driven, but only a tiny, tiny percentage of stones could actually be considered investment grade. Unlike precious metals, whose prices are recognized internationally, the market for gemstones is established one transaction at a time. The price you get offered is totally at the discretion of the buyer.
Buy fine jewelry because you love it, but temper your expectations about how well it would serve as a store of value.
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I like buckworks idea buy a modest urban place, then look for a cottage. Your urban place will retain more value during an energy crunch if it is not an hour commute into the city by car. Look close in and along a commuter rail line so that if gas goes through the roof you can still get around.
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what about a boat big enough to live on? 50' sailboat. I don't know how to sail, but don't let that stop you from thinking it might be a good idea:) That way I could live in it any place where there is an ocean.
Granted most of the time it is not economical mainly because you never use it. I'm talking about using the crap out of it.
A pirate's life for me...
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I would buy rental property(ies) in areas that are somewhat insulated from economic swings, and you hopefully know or can find someone who will do a good job with management. Prices are cheap right now, and the rental market is huge.
Live in one while you figure out your long term plan.
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>Where can you store wealth during times such as these?
Farmland is doing very well these days. You can buy a nice, decent sized house in Russell Kansas (or other small rural communities) for $60K or less. Not sure if you want to live there though. If it were me, I'd buy a house that I could pay for outright. That way, if I lost everything, I'd still have a roof over my head.
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>farmland
Ditto. It generates good income and people gotta eat.
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You can buy a nice, decent sized house in Russell Kansas (or other small rural communities) for $60K or less.
That is *almost* cheap enough to make me want to move to Russell Kansas :)
Just out of interest, what's the rental market like for small farms in Kansas? There must be more than a 10% yield on that price, surely?!
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You can buy a nice, decent sized house in Russell Kansas (or other small rural communities) for $60K or less.
That makes me want to cry
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You can buy a nice, decent sized house in Russell Kansas (or other small rural communities) for $60K or less.
That is *almost* cheap enough to make me want to move to Russell Kansas :)
Just out of interest, what's the rental market like for small farms in Kansas? There must be more than a 10% yield on that price, surely?!
I can't speak for Kansas, but there is a high demand to rent good crop acreage in Iowa. China and the Pacific Rim are all getting wealthier and wanting more grain which keeps pressure on crop prices. Farmland is now more valuable for crops than building housing on it.
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>Just out of interest, what's the rental market like for small farms in Kansas? There must be more than a 10% yield on that price, surely?!
Yes. Much more, if moisture is good. And a hell of a lot more if you grow soybeans or corn.
Many landowners do what is called a simple 'Cash rent' plan. The landowner charges a rent for the land per acre. The tenant then farms the ground, pays all expenses and keeps all the profits from growing crops on the land.
The owner gets paid no matter what, even if a hailstorm comes through. It is in the farmer's best interest to keep costs down and do a good job farming to get the most profit out of it. This is done with cattle on pasture land as well.
If they don't do cash rent, costs and profits are shared on a 2/3 - 1/3 basis. (Farmer - Owner)
Oh, and here is a list of houses in Russell, Kansas:
http://kendratruebloodrealtor.com/properties-f11902.html
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ok, counter offer signed and faxed... if they say yes, we close at the end of May, and from what I heard, I think we are going to shake on it, and I'm going to be lucky as hell I got an exit when I did.
>Farms
Yeah, I hear you. I like them. Wouldn't mind having some acreage. Just land even, as a longterm investment. Not sure if I want to live on a commercial farm again. I did once in Idaho, on a potato farm... also know to Fly Fisherman as Mecca, aka 'Silver Creek Preserve':
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/267836_10150700954355252_587880251_19706035_1629340_n.jpg)
...I actually lived in that trailer for 6 months, moved to Alaska for a year, then into that cabin for a year. This one had running water and 2 rooms so it was really a step up for me and dog:)
Speaking of $50k, I've seen foreclosures down here for that amount. For 100+ you can find a 1 br extremely close to the beach, if not in a building on the beach (but not ocean view.) Granted, these places need redone, but so what. Order a new kitchen from Directbuy, and deck the place out so that it's nice as hell. When it's that small, it's worth it.
So nobody liked my boat idea? My girl want's to become a captain and said she'd like to live on a boat. I honestly think she'd hate it. Hard to say, because she did pretty well camping last year in CO for a week. Last time I was on a 50' boat, SEGuru and I were coming back from Bimini in an epic storm. We both thought we were going to die. Lashed ourselves to the boat with life vests and storm gear, while the others stayed below. The boat was below the horizon at times, pure white out, smack dab in a shipping lane, with huge freighters that blasted right by us that we could only hear but knew if they smashed us they'd never even feel it.
This was us coming into Bimini...
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/364_94715375251_587880251_4705655_2061_n.jpg)
....hehheeheheh never do a deep water storm passage again:)
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>Lashed ourselves to the boat with life vests and storm gear,
p###ies... ;)
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>> nobody liked my boat idea
to me thats a nice idea but its a 12 month thing - sailing + nice weather + new places to go = great. But I never wanted to be a round the world yachtsman and there are lots of things I want to see a long way inland.
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A friend lived on his boat in the Emeryville (just south of Berkeley) marina while he did grad school and his post-doc. After a life of sailing, he couldn't bear the thought of not being able to sail just because he couldn't afford rent and a boat. So he passed on the rent. His boat was docked most of the time and never moved ports.
It's a special way of life and every once in a while a boat needs to be pulled into dry dock for maintenance, so you have to have contingencies for that.
Worked for him, though.
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All I said was "invest in farmland" and buy a house outright.
If the boat is large enough to be a house, buy it outright!
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Ok, I got a signed contract, dependent on them getting a mortgage, but hopefully everything falls into place.
Whew...
I think the plan is rent in Florida and buy something foreclosed up in the Smokeys and invest the rest in the market. Just got to figure out what goes up when things go down.
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Keep some in cash. As a "just in case" fund.
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Confused??????
The internet is the fastest growth sector on the planet........
Build a simple useful site and look after the baby
Doug
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>Confused???
You and me both? I'm not sure I got you... I'm up for building sites and investing time and money in them, but I think of that more as a 'job', and one of the most difficult investments to exit if it doesn't do well. Building sites to me is more like risk capital, because in most cases you can be left with nothing.
I kinda see these things as apples and oranges. As far our investment portfolio goes, we have so much in stocks, so much in commercial real estate, residential real estate, metals, insurance, plus other assets, etc. My goal is to diversify, protect, and grow what we have in the safest way possible...
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I just got the word the house didn't appraise. Both agents are shocked and going to appeal, but now that opens us up to the buyers walking, which would suck big time. But usually appeals don't work out.
I just got back down here yesterday with an empty truck and trailer I need to return before May 31, either way.
f###.
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>the house didn't appraise?
What does that mean? It has to appraise for *something*...
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it appraised for $50k less than the proposed mortgage amount.... which means the bank wont give them a mortgage.
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Sorry to hear that DB we just went through our own process to buy a house, our deal just closed, it's a sweet place:
http://www.prayfornathan.org/blog/dorjes-haven.html
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wow, that place is outrageous! Good for you!!!!!
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OK Marcela....remember how I told you to get a goat to "mow down" the yard...ignore that.
You'll need A HERD of goats to mow down the yard!!
<added> You'll also probably want to get a few guinea hens to eat down the ticks. They are *very* good at that.