Real Estate Prices In Usd And Ars - Help

[ghost]

I dont see how you can invest in Newport Beach, and call it "risk".
Thats as blue chip as it gets, in real estate.
Now if you were buying land in San Berdoo, THAT would be risk.
I actually bought property in Inglewood 25 years ago, and came out of that just fine, made money and used the building in the interim.
But I certainly wouldnt recommend that to someone who didnt know LA pretty well.

But you are basically re-afirming what I said about Real Estate-
Which is, be aware of what your own personal feelings about risk are
Learn the area you want to invest in
Research the actual costs of ownership in that area- which vary wildly, within the USA, and around the world.

Then decide if its right for you.

Blue chip indeed. And I said it provides allot of leverage for other endeavors. However in the end we have agreed on something. Have a good day.

 

[jeff1234]

In 2000 I bought building lots in a prime residential neighborhood. Low taxes, no maintenance, no structures to insure, generally carefree ownership yet great growth.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Today, found out when I sell one of my house in the states, have to pay a whopping 20% plus as capital gain tax!
That figure amounts more than a quarter mill ! So forget it, will rent that one too and see how it goes...

 

[Girino]

Today, found out when I sell one of my house in the states, have to pay a whopping 20% plus as capital gain tax!
That figure amounts more than a quarter mill ! So forget it, will rent that one too and see how it goes...

Hybrid-san, you sound like a nice catch (please don't blush).

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

No capital gains tax in Argentina (so far).

 

[TomAtAlki]

Tom and I sold Real estate for 28 years. And prior to that we bought our own home and several investment properties. We bought rental properties over the years. Basically our goal was for the tenants to cover in the first few years maybe 80% or so of the cost of ownership. We believed that owning property was forced savings and looking towards future value. We always bought close to us in "good neighborhoods" , so we could drive by and check on the condition. For most of those years we had property managers because we worked all the time, and that ate up a lot of $. Again, we were looking for future value. We have had some great tenants, and some good tenants, but trust me ( and remember, our properties were close by), we had some unbelievably bad tenants, with so much damage and unpaid rents. I don't know about Florida, but in Seattle the law favors the tenant.
Our goal was future value. We knew the neighborhood. We were Realtors, we knew the business. Yes, we did do okay, we are retired, still have some property, and it is work and $ to maintain your properties.
My opinion is to buy where you live and know.
Nancy

 

[nlaruccia]

A friend suggested investing in gold due to another upcoming crisis and eventual devaluation of currency. They Suggested Bullion Vault where your gold is locked upon either London, Zurich or, NYC or Singapore. I've never invested in gold but maybe it's a safe place to store money without the risk of it losing it's value. The value dropped last year yet many are still buying gold. Russia and China governments are no longer buying United States government bonds, they are buying gold, many countries are increasing their gold holdings. If anyone invests in gold versus stocks, bonds or real estate, I'd be interested in hearing your experience.

 

[Ries]

Actually, the Chinese are still buying treasuries in large amounts- as of one month ago.
The gold bugs are always predicting ruin, but gold is actually pretty volatile- that means you can lose big on it, as it swings in pretty large arcs, up, and down.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101625105
http://online.wsj.com/articles/china-plays-a-big-role-as-u-s-treasury-yields-fall-1405545034

theoretically, if you buy and sell gold at exactly the right moments, you can make money at it.
The problem is, almost nobody is that smart.

Russia, obviously, is not buying US bonds for political reasons.
Us Bonds are boring, and dont pay very high rates. But they are also boringly safe.

The big problem with gold, aside from its propensity to drop by huge percentage points, is its transaction costs- many times, it costs more to buy and then sell it than any profit you might make on its rise in value. Nobody sells it for market rate, there is always a markup. Nobody buys it for market rate, there is always a discount.

 

[nlaruccia]

m.afr.com/p/business/companies/super_rich_return_to_gold_safe_haven_97XY9A5rS4T2hsiogh1bLJ

I'm not sure that gold is more volatile than other investments. Paper money is continually being printed out, and although real estate has always been a solid investment, one must consider the work that goes into renting and maintaining housing. They're also predicting another real estate bubble that will blow up again.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Real estate moves in predicable cycles. Read Glen R. Mueller who took Henry George's observations in the late 1800's and expanding his thesis.

http://www.dce.harvard.edu/professional/blog/how-use-real-estate-trends-predict-next-housing-bubble

Essentially, when demand for housing (all types) exceeds supply then new construction gears up. There is constant upward demand which pushes rent prices higher. Once new construction (supply) begins to catch up to demand then pressure eases. The problem is that lots more new construction gets finished at this point which then exceeds demand and you now have an excess of supply and high prices. That's a bubble. The pop is the adjustment.

There is a contributing consumer behavior factor. Many people blame the banks for creating funky mortgage-backed tools for the 2008 bubble. That is only partly true. It was demand that used those tools to push the bubble. No matter how much new construction came on the market to satisfy demand prices kept rising. This is the nature of an asset. Buyers thought that they had better get into the game before prices ran away from them. People were making a LOT of money (in theory) on their investments. Owners started leveraging their current properties to buy more properties. If you had a heart-beat you could get a mortgage. Once supply caught up and then surged past demand the bottom fell out.

There can be a real estate bubble even if there is no mortgage market.