Victory With REITs?

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These past three almost four years, I’ve been investing in REITS (Real Estate Investment Trusts) and so far I’m been very happy with them, and here’s why…

I’ve almost recaptured my principal that I invested in the REITs!  If all goes well, sometime in the 2 years, I’m have doubled my money!  Now if you look at my investment in the REITs, it’s not impressive… For example, the $10,000 I have invested in my largest REIT position and it’s stock value is only up to $10,044 not very impressive huh, but after you factor in the dividend stream that I also received, my gain is really almost 75% of my initial $10,000 purchase price!  About a 175% in 3.5 year, not too shabby huh!  I guess that’s what a near 20% dividend can do for you over a few years span of time!

While I’m not really bragging, it has been nice!  Most people (including myself) thought that I was gambling, and to a certain extent, they were right.  If the Fed (Mr. Ben Bernanke) decided to raise interest rates, I would have possible been hurting, at least a bit…  But based on the economy and more importantly the world economy, I found that scenario unlikely!

If Mr. Ben Bernanke (aka the Fed) keeps rates flat, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to double my money allowing me to recoup my initial investment dollars.  At that point, I might just let it stay invested in the REIT since it’s now considered the “the house’s money” (a gambling saying that means I’m playing with the casino’s money since I have all of my principle back).  Since I doubt that the REITs that I’m invested in will go to zero, I’ll just let them ride and not worry about it.

Now the big question is “Would I invest in REITs today?”.  And my answer would be it depends, but maybe for the next 1/2 year to 1 year.  It really depends on the Fed (Mr. Bernanke) and what they are planning to do with the interest rates.  As long as REITS can afford to pay out a decent dividend, it seems like a decent, although much more risky gamble.

While I consider the dividend income from the REIT’s that I’m in a victory, I’m not recommend the same approach as a strategy today…

Cheers,

MR

 

Disclosure: I have REITs and I’m currently long on them!

 

Checking Out Local Property As An Investment

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Right now, I’m sitting in a small local bank, waiting to speak to a loan officer?

I need to start making the proper connections, so I thought I’d get pre-approved for a mortgage as a first step by making a connection for my property purchasing plan.  Since I’m not entirely sure what I’m going (I’m still reading up on the process), I thought it would be best to test the waters with a small local bank just to get my feet wet.

I just recently drove through an area that I’m thinking of making a purchase and I thought I would describe it.

It’s a small (less than 4,000 total population) town that based around an resource mining company.  I’m sure most of the population is employed by the few local companies that are mining the earth for their manufactured product.  Driving around, I noticed a high amount of rental properties scattered throughout the small manufacturing town.

Even with a lot of rental properties, I didn’t notice too many “for rent” signs in the town.  I’m thinking that there could be a lot of renters in the area.  Driving around the area I’m thinking of buying, they people all seem like they are nice, happy looking people.

Although the neighborhood I’m looking at seems decent, I did notice that the neighbor across the street has a sign on his garage that says “Drunk Drive”, and there are a lot of plastic chairs and a big fire pit in the yard…  That might mean that perhaps they do more partying that I would like, but who knows.  Most likely, I’ll do a couple of weekend drive-bys to see how bad it really is.

Senate Versus Jamie Dimon

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I’m on vacation, but I stumbled upon the senate hearing with Jamie Dimon speaking, and I have to say I’m impressed.

While I’m not that impressed with the senate, Jamie Dimon was a superstar.  It’s kind of like seeing a debate contest between a third grader (some of the senators) and a renown public speaker.

I was especially amazed with a senator from Ohio.  This particular senator opened his questioning with a statement that he wanted Jamie Dimon to just answer “Yes or No” to his questions.  My thought is how do you learn anything with “Yes or No” answers.  To me this seemed like a tactic to make the senator look good to his voters.  I on the other hand thought he looked foolish.  The Ohio senator ended by saying that the bank is too big to manager in his opinion.  My thought is what basis does he have to make such a statement?  Other foreign banks have no restrictions, so if our “too big” banks are broken up, how would we compete with smart foreign banks that don’t have such restrictions?

Is it me, or does it seem like we are giving our advantages away to other countries?

I think that Jamie Dimon is one of the best CEO in the United States and we’re very lucky to have him in our country.  I actually came away from the meeting with great respect for the man.  It’s obvious that he’s cares about American and truly wants things to be optimal.

I think one of the most incredible moments in the hearing? was when Jamie Dimon started listed how his company and other banks have made financial transactions cheaper and more liquid.  It seems like nobody thinks of the great things that the banks do, just that they are crooks.  I’m against the gain when I think that people like Jamie Dimon are great americans and help the country prosper!  Where do we think that small startup businesses get their money from to start anyway.

Senate vs Dimon, winner Dimon!

Bests,

MR

Revenge of the Myrtle Beach Family Vacation

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Today is Tuesday and I have to eat my words in my previous post titled: Myrtle Beach Is Not For Families?

I ended the previous post with a question mark because I wasn’t 100% sure that the area would be bad for families, and to be honestly, these past few days the area has redeemed itself somewhat.

It’s still loud in the following ways:

  1. Biker’s without a muffler!
  2. Those stupid soccer horns that make such a loud sound.
  3. College age kids slamming doors and yelling constantly at night.
  4. Radios in cars cruising the strip that are way to loud
  5. Kids still hitting on each other and acting crazy (kind of look fun really).

But what has change is the day of week!  This change alone has made a dramatic difference in the way that enjoyed for the entire family.  After some basic common sense and talking to others in the area, Friday and Saturday are the days that the local kids (and young men) from the surrounding areas and come to Myrtle Beach to party.  So that means a lot of drinking and yelling, and a lot of trying to meet members of the opposite sex.

I believe that a lot of the rowdiness is from boys/men coming to the hotels hitting on the young girls going on vacation.   I think they realize that there isn’t much that the hotels can do to determine if they are clients or just men from surrounding area.  I can imagine if I were a local, young and not married, I too would be tempted to come down and have some fun.

So far, my family have went put-put golfing, experienced something called “Wonder Works” House (which was very fun), and rode on a huge Ferris Wheel (we went at night, but I think it would have been better in the day).

So after a rough start, the vacations has become much better.  After walking the pier, we notice that there are some definitely some newer resorts/hotels that would have been much nicer.  I think with some more thought and preparation, perhaps it could be a decent family vacation after all (at least if you can come in on Sunday and left mid-day Friday.

We’ll see how the vacation unfolds…

MR