Yes I remember the RTC liquidation quite well. There were those people who took advantage of them and there was the overwhelming majority of people who stayed on the sidelines and were scared.
There were also those who predicted there would be a solution similar to the RTC for our current bubble. This would have been fantastic… It should be intuitive to figure out why that didn’t happen.
See the main problem here is a somewhat innocent belief in how this all works. Try to understand, it is not a free market anymore. It stopped being a free market long ago. Those in control of the market have cornered themselves and the only way to keep a lid on it is to continue to manipulate it, subsidize it, and massage it for years if not decades until it can inflate its way back to the true value of the asset.
Like you, I do not believe that will happen. The big pop will happen when the bond market realizes that we will default on our debt and the charade will come falling down on everyone. I don’t know when that will happen but I do think it will. Unlike you I believe there is opportunity, there is ALWAYS opportunity. I don’t believe in waiting for it, but rather trying to build up so I can act when it comes.
Again, read what I said, not what you want to put in my mouth. I think rental opportunities are fantastic right now for cash flow… in San Diego? no. In other states yes? It doesn’t work for everyone though. There is no easy path to make money, to many people think there is.
My background is in engineering and logically the things that you say should happen should happen. What you fail to see is that there are much stronger forces in place that have not let it happen and they have only entrenched themselves further.
I still stand by my prediction for pricing for various types of property. Try to understand that is independent of whether you or jameswen or anyone else should buy.