That's how we're looking at it. We moved into a lower income neighborhood last year for a reason. It was because the house was cheap enough to be bought with cash in hand. Our house, like the ones we buy, needed a little bit of work...namely electric updated, some plumbing repaired, and paint. The neighborhood is clean, just lower income. These are hard working people that have fallen on hard times...many of them have been here for generations.

Currently, there are 4 other investors my wife and I compete with in this area. 3 out of the 4 have lived here since childhood, and don't want the area to have tons of vacant homes in it. The 4th is a guy that lives in North Side, a more affluent area, but grew up here. Most of the buys are based on emotions, because they remember the old lady that used to live here, or the old guy that used to live there.

The 5 of us are working with the borough to help bring in other investors, to help increase money for the borough to work with to improve or restore most of it. Even the local Baptist church, which has been in the same building since the 1870's has started pressure washing the brick, same with the local Catholic parish.

If you walk in the down town area, it hasn't changed in at least 80 years. There's still an old Coke advertisement painted on the side of one building, another has one painted of a now defunct business, but it's been there since the 1940's. we have an old diner car still in operation, another restaurant that's been around for 118 years, etc. With the number of movies made in western PA, we're hoping to attract some of the independents to be made here.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's a picture of our favorite eatery, where you can still get homemade pies made from scratch daily.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Are you holding some Rydex ETF? There is a different between hedging some positions and just 'seeing' the bubble being pricked.

__________________
Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

Nah, just a small amount of stocks. If Dow hits 11.5k or so, I'd consider jumping back in in a more meaningful way. Summer 2010 bottom was ~9.7k. 2011 bottom was 10.4k. 2012 bottom (if any) will probably be hit around 11-11.5k.

Spdrun - Stock market does not work like that. You need to hedge it if you think the Market is going to go down. When the Market does go down big time, you would be too afraid to jump back in as you do not know WHEN is the bottom. Same for Real Estate - no one knows it is bottom until it re-bounced, then it is too late. Just look at RE, no one calls bottom as yet.

__________________
Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

With RE, I don't care about calling a bottom as long as I can lock in loan for at least 10 years and get a return that's 3+% higher than that loan rate. I'm interested in "buy and hold", not in speculative flipping. Landlord, not speculator! And I'm calling a bottom in SD right about now. Inventory has dropped -- so prices will either start going up or at least stay steady. There may be more foreclosures dumped on the market (there are a LOT of trustee sales being scheduled, it seems, but that's unlikely to be worse than 2009/early 2010, and there are a lot of investors geared up to buy them, unlike then).

As far as the market, nothing wrong with getting out when it's high, waiting for a 10-15% dip, then getting back in. With any cyclical wave, chances are there will be a point higher (and lower) than

If you went in when the S&P pull back 10-15% in 2008, you would have lost your shirt plus some. It went from 15xx to 6xx in early 2009.

Enough said for me. Good luck with your investments, Stock or Real Estate.

__________________
Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

That's right: You guys are merely evil speculators. How do I know? Why, all speculators are evil! I learned that from the saints of OWS.