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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

I am certainly biased in favor of real estate investment. I use the  
word bias here according to the definition: "a concentration on or  
interest in one particular area or subject." My bias comes from thirty- 
nine years experience buying and selling investment properties,  
helping buyers buy (my greatest pleasure was helping young couples buy  
their first home), helping owners sell, running a real estate office,  
researching and writing three editions of a real estate-oriented book,  
again selling homes, and continuing to research and write about real  
estate matters. I have purchased, improved, held and sold many homes;  
at about the ten-year point in my real estate career I calculated that  
I had made more income from that enterprise than from sales commissions.

I have lived through fast markets and slow markets and up markets and  
down markets. California, where I did most of my real estate work, has  
experienced every kind of real estate condition, many ups and downs  
over the last four decades. I was born after the Great Depression but  
I have read about it. Conditions then were far worse than they are now.

The current real estate market slowdown, thanks to the Internet, has  
an unlimited number of statisticians, journalists and prognosticators  
eager to gain attention. Cheerleaders and doomsayers, each with their  
own bias, each with their own paycheck to earn. Choose your expert. I  
see this debate similar to the global warming question. One can easily  
find "experts" on all sides of the issue. To what avail? As with all  
challenges, I see the issue as an opportunity to live more  
intelligently.

The only dog I have in this fight, the questions about the current  
real estate adjustment period, is this Phoenix house that Chris and I  
bought in 2003 as a place to live but primarily as an investment. I  
will do as I have always done, wait to sell when I can make my desired  
profit. That may be one year or ten years. I have no doubt that, as I  
have always experienced, it will have been a good investment.
> From genegerue AT ruralize.com  Fri Jan 25 11:00:05 2008
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From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
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Subject: Re: [Homestead] My real estate bias
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As is typical in my writing, I wish I had added something to my last  
post. This paragraph:

The 130 acres that Chris and I call Heartwood is a different kind of  
investment. There, we have peace and quiet surrounded by nature. There  
we can grow food and fuel. I can express my passion for design and  
construction. Our grandsons can build a treehouse. As humble as the  
house now is, it is a family heritage property, a legacy for our  
grandchildren and theirs. I cannot argue with my brother, who during a  
long hike there said, "This is the best thing you've ever done."