I once had an interesting meeting with a FNMA employee who referred to the west coast and east coast as the “bookends”
I have never forgotten our conversation.
Although fortunes have been made in the past from real estate, I think the game is over for a VERY long time. All the talk of moving up and keeping the house as a rental is so 60’s-70’s-80’s..
Financing and qualifying today are COMPLETELY different than any previous time in history.
It worked well back then because it was affordable.
In many “bookend” states it just doesn’t make sense anymore.
A house is a stucco box to live in. You can buy one or you can rent one. Either way the use is the same.
I still believe in real estate. The tax benefits are tremendous. For an investment to make sense, I want cash flow today, not lofty anticipated appreciation that may not happen, AND I also want maximum depreciation for added cash flow.
You can only depreciate a dwelling, not land.
Land in most of the bookend states is high.
You get much better ROI from states in between the bookends.
If you want to gamble on appreciation, it’s your choice. If you want an investment that really makes sense now, look to 40 other states.
Markets repeat themselves. The DOW hit 1000 for the first time around 1965 and didn’t break out above that until 1984. NINETEEN YEARS..There was opportunity in between if your timing was right.
In every market, people chase performance. It usually doesn’t work.
Corresponding to the breakout of the stock market in the 1980’s was the inception of 401K’s starting in 1980… the market didn’t break out for no reason…..
The fuel for igniting the stock market to DOW 15,000 was not 1500% growth in America, it was manipulation and greed combined with the explosive contributions of clueless people putting money into something that they did not understand, EXACTLY LIKE BUYING HOUSES.
Stocks have only pulled back about 40%+ from the recent peak, so far.
It’s a different world today and comparisons to peak prices in either houses or stocks are simply foolish. Neither mean ANYTHING, except what a foolish person paid EXPECTING that it would go up more…
Markets are fueled by fear and greed, nothing more. It doesn’t matter what the product is.
Without manipulation of SOME SORT, markets don’t rise by themselves.
The worst is yet to come. Buckle your seat belt, it’s going to be a rough ride.
