The Club Mastermind, LLC

I got an email yesterday asking me to identify the single most significant reason for the current financial - and, by association - real estate 'meltdown.'  

My response to this reader, (thanks to Kristy for asking this most probing question) was as follows:

"As I mentioned, the global issue regarding the entire economy is one of...confidence. The elections and a historically negative media do not help matters any!

You should know: I have always been contrarian in my approach to things. I go against the crowd. It works almost all of the time... so instead of worrying about the underlying causes of the challenges in today's economy (trust me, I study them ruthlessly), I am more interested in the opportunities that these challenges bring.

For instance...take the two investment banks that tanked this past weekend (Lehman & Merrill Lynch). 

First: they tanked because of one thing: they moved away from their own fundamentals. They got greedy!

But most important to this discussion is that Bank of America just purchased an entire business (Merrill Lynch) for 50 cents on the dollar... and with the sell-off of the other one now in bankruptcy, others are going to get some fantastic deals....

Why is this important to a discussion about real estate... or being a real estate investor... simple...

The real estate market behaves just like any other market... only slower.  Therefore, just like BofA buying an entire business for 50 cents on the dollar, so too can real estate investors purchase homes for that or much less. 

In short: where there are challenges... there are opportunities... (see the print newsletter for The Club this month for more details and strategies for handling this), so if you are in the buying mode, NOW is the best time to be doing so!

Now let me recap what I said... GREED has led to a vast reduction in the stability of our financial markets, which in turn has greatly reduced the overall confidence in our entire financial system.

If you believe that this is over, I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but it is not.  There will be more than a few bank failures within the next year and, yes, these failures will continue to reverberate through the market...

And... as one Wall Street investor put it (for real estate investors the same is true): "there are going to be some really great investment opportunities in the very near future." 

Well, actually, the future is now. When you can control your emotions, stick to YOUR fundamentals (which these banks lost sight of) you can find GOOD risks in the midst of change.

What are you doing to take advantage of these opportunities? 

To your success,

Peter Giardini

P.S.: Of course - if you are in Maryland, and want to know where the opportunities are in this local market join us for my live seminar this month. With things changing quickly, I urge you to gather the market "intelligence" that I freely share at this seminar, about real deals and strategies, being used in THIS market.

Of course, you can always feel free to send me a note or comment on my blog (below).