"Finally!! Someone Who Gets it..."

Normally I ignore what mass (general) media has to say about real estate and real estate investing. When times are good they are too optimistic, and when times are normal, they are too pessimistic and when times are bad, they tend to say "nothing".

In addition, many reporters who cover real estate have little to no training on the subject. in general, they never went to business school, they never attended a single REIA meeting, they have never purchased an investment property, and most do not even own their own home - so who in the world made them the "EXPERT"???

Yes, there are exceptions to this "blanket condemnation", Jan Fox of Washington DC's WUSA-NEWS Channel 9 has been seen around town rehabbing houses and doing condo conversions, she's very sharp.

But for the most part, the general media consistently gets it WRONG when it comes to real estate, and real estate investing.

HOWEVER, the most recent copy of FORTUNE magazine has a cover story on real estate, in fact, it is called REAL ESTATE SURVIVAL GUIDE - SPECIAL 2006, "dun na na..." and I have to admit, I think they got it RIGHT!!

Specifically, the two stories by Shawn Tully (stully@fortunemail.com) and Ellen Florian Kratz are dead on correct. I particularly like the fact that Shawn highlights how important real estate has been to the overall economy because over the past several years people have been refinancing and pulling the equity out of their homes to buy stuff and keep the economy moving along. Any change in this factor could send chills not only through the real estate markets, but through the economy as a whole.

Hopefully, Chairman Bernake (http://www.federalreserve.gov/bios/) and the other members of the Federal Reserve are in sync with Shawn's comments and understand the dicey game that they play when they drive up interest rates too high in the hopes of "keeping inflation in check".

As an investor, I would be very excited about what FORTUNE and Tully and Kratz have to say. With more and more home owners "Spooked" about the real estate market in general, investors using "traditional" creative strategies such as Lease/Options and Subject-2 are going to have a Heck of a GOOD YEAR, as will wholesalers who "troll the MLS" for deals...

While on the other hand, Tully's words of caution for SPECULATORS need to be taken to heart: "...speculators who bought overpriced condos in hope of a quick killing are going to get hosed". He is 100% correct!! The same is true of Rehabbers and "Flippers" who bought based on "tomorrow's prices", which failed to materialize and "investors" doing Pre-construction deals in markets which are either over-built, or have poor job growth prospects.

Looking back on 2006, 18 months from now we will all be talking about real estate investing in terms of "The Worst of Times - The Best of Times", depending upon which real estate strategy you are using today. Reading this week's FORTUNE articles will assist in making sure you are on the "right side" of that discussion...