On 2011-03-03, Wild_Bill wrote:
Despite what's "predicted" by overly optimistic (or possibly intentionally
misleading) media reports, I expect the real estate market to continue to
decline, but that's just my cynical viewpoint.

Wel, the future will tell. I am not looking to make a quick buck. But
I know that good things happen when one buys things at below
replacement costs.

There is too much global volatility, IMO, for anyone to be making any
economic predictions beyond, well, yesterday.

This is a great point. Many things that happen, are such that almost
no one expects them.

Home values are down by 30% in some areas, according to some of the info
I've seen, and the major banks are saying that forclosures are going to be
historically high for the remaining year (but may level off.. yeah, right,
they would know).

This would, more or less, follow unemployment rate.

I am not trying to be a global pundit and try to consider every
worldwide interdepencency of interest rates, central banks, and
conflicts in oil countries. I just try to go by price and see if a
price offers a margin of safety when buying.

I was gung ho on stocks for the last two years. After they had such a
great run and became much pricier, I no longer consider them to be as
safe as I thought about then when they were cheap. Meanwhile, real
estate continued to get cheaper.

I would also hate to lose my savings due to inflation, and I think
that homes/land offer a good degree of inflation protection, with much
less risk than kooky stuff like gold.

These were some of the reasons that our family thought about.

Plus the shed

i