2 years 7 weeks, guess that makes me middle aged in the realm. I lurked for a long time because the reality is I didn’t know squat about real estate, I didn’t understand the terminology or the abbreviations. I owned a few houses in my time on the planet but I went about it like most people do, I had a realtor show me houses or went to some models, picked one that I liked, asked how much, signed papers and sent a check every month where they told me to.
In about 05/06, through the joys of community property laws, I found myself shopping for a house. I was kind of blown away. I was in my late 30’s, I was making more money than I ever had and I had a larger downpayment than I ever had before, yet I couldn’t comfortably afford something equivalent to the house I owned when I was 22. Something stunk in denmark, so the research began.
I think I read about ten sites weekly, never posting, as time went on I followed more data sites and fewer blogs. Over time I pretty much only read this site (and ocrenter’s, but it had more O.C. stuff, I was a big fan just didn’t like the mood of most posters). I encountered a lot of authors in my journey, watched and listened to countless “experts.” There’s a lot of crap out there and in time it became easier to spot. Perhaps the one author (that was not a poster), who I never lost respect for, was Rich.
Somewhere around 3 or 4 years of reading every article written by Rich on this site and at the Voice, I have never been able to dispute or punch a hole in his opinions and research. He’s never asked me for money and like a lot of you I’ve met him in person, he’s sincere, he’s real and he’s real smart. It’s rare that you find such intelligent, unbiased articles without some angle or motive, plus he moderates the forums in a very mild way, never steering the conversations (unlike myself).
So that is why I kept reading, eventually became a regular poster, I start by reading Rich’s main article, then wander into the boards. Regardless when this real estate cycle ends, I’ll probably always read Rich’s analysis on this site or wherever his writing takes him. I go in phases as far as posting goes, but I never miss an article. I think of it like college, after listening to the professor, we students end up bullshitting in the dorms later. Just like college, you learn a little from both places.
