[Raybyrnes]

It’s not tactful but you said the guy was successful. You might not like the style but maybe he is worth his asking price and would have been able to get a much better price.

Simple economics tell you that people work on economic incentives. The less incentive there is to sell the less motivated to go out of your way to get the highest asking price. Lots of people can be order takers. Sales people work for a living, in good times and in bad. The ones that survive are usually fairly good at what they do.

Check out the book Freakonomics.

[Raybyrnes]

Poly -silica is simultaneously used in micro chips and solar panels. Intel’s pain is Poli-Silicas pleasure. Stocks such as MEMC (WFR) and other alternative energy seem to be the play. Evergreen Solar(ESLR) Daystar technologies (DSTI). These are speculative. You might also consider basic materials. Cemex our of mexico has been on a tear and CRH out of Ireland has benefitted from emerging markets. If you like the Basic Materials sector but don’t like to play individuals stocks you could take a look at ICBMX.

[Raybyrnes]

I have read a lot of experts expressing concern about a housing bubble in San Diego yet none of them have said anything as to how to capitalize on it especially if you home free and clear. So I am going to give the common man a chance to cash in on an obvious opportunity.
Once you make that final payment to the bank you get the psychological value of ownership but you accept all the risk of a rising or falling market. So why not shift that risk. Sell your home back to the bank and get the biggest fixed rate interest only mortgage your Credit can support. That might initially sound risky but it is probably the least risky thing you can do. Why? Becasue the government rewards you fro debt by the fact that you can itemize the interest on the loan so an interest rate of 6 percent only nets out to 3.9%. Now that I have 600K in cash that the bank just lent to me for my overvalued home what I am I to do with it. I can simply invest it in an I bond that pays me a tax free rate of 6.71 percent and is reset each year. That nets out to a rate of return of 10.32%. Now if the house goes down in value it is on the banks books not your. Additioanlly if interest rates go up you are going to see a greater rate of return. If interest rates were to fall back to our post 9/11 envioronbment you can cash in the bonds and pay off the home. Either way you are in an arbitrage situation which if you play right can make out like a champ. Best of luck to those of you who put this on a spead sheet and begin to realize the ability of thinking outside the box.

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