Quote from DHOHHI:
My gut feel says you've not invested in any real estate in the past decade or so. Econ 101 talks about supply vs. demand. As I stated previously .. they're not making any more land. Yet the demand is there .. baby boomers wanting 2nd homes, retirement homes, investments. So no, I won't eventually lose ... buying real estate on Hilton Head Island in the past 10-15 years has been incredibly profitable.
And eventually people will lose? Tell that to my fiance who bought a house on an island near Charleston, SC in 1997 for $290K. She's had offers to sell at $800K. Not a bad return .. 175% in 7+ years.
People WANT to be near the ocean which is different that speculating in Omaha or some land locked place.
I'm very bullish on real estate for the long term, but the market really reminds me of the coin market when they first started slabbing coins back in the 1980s. "Slabbing" is grading and encapsulating by a third party grader. It allowed coins to be traded sight unseen for the first time ever, and did something wierd to the market. Prices exploded, and some coins went up 500% in a couple of years. During the price run, a lot of folks who didn't know anything about coins got into it, and a lot of people got burned buying junk coins that were overgraded and overhyped. What happened was that after slabbing was initiated, suddenly, the only "good" coins were slabbed coins, and there were less of them than unslabbed coins. Back then, they also used the argument "they ain't making any more of them". However, over time, so many coins were slabbed that the supply of slabbed coins met the demand and prices did drop. But not to where they started because inflation was also involved.
Here is the similarity: Just like your local county commissioners can only approve condo designs at a given rate, the third party graders could only slab at a certain rate. The reality is, that more ocean front property can be created, by converting large lots with single family residences into multifamily. Heck, there is a bunch of "barely" developed coastline in the big bend area of Florida. Its getting built up, because the prices are high enough for the owners to sell so it can be re-developed. But it does take time. The county commissioners can only approve designs so fast. There are only so many surveyers, geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, etc. to work on them. And people want those condos now, while the interest rates are low!
I don't think there will be a "crash" for most areas (the so called "flyover areas"), but I do think that in places where the demand is way ahead of supply, that the supply will eventually catch up. But I also believe that inflation will help cushion the fall somewhat, because the dollar has dropped so much, the prices of "things" need to be higher. I believe that the prices for some of the $800,000 condos that were $290,000 condos a couple years ago will drop back close to those prices because of the competition. It doesn't cost $800,000 to buy small pieces of subdivided land (though parent parcel land is more expensive) and build them. But our weaker dollar does mean that building costs and land costs should be higher, so the prices won't drop back to where they were.
Now, that being said. Real estate investing, instead of speculation, with a long-term view, is a viable path to great wealth for the folks who know how to react to changing economic conditions.
SM