MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY DOLLAR

By: Eugene O. Smith, Jr. March 10, 2008
CEO Mestizo Media Group, Inc.

The principles of real estate investing are a bit more forgiving than investing in the stock market. Considering our curent economic situation, and the future of our property values our country has been put in an extremely vulnerable position. From within it looks as if the value of our land and homes has crashed, and that the we were all mistaken. Well I don't agree I think that the value of our land and homes has increased. I think that the systems we have in place to secure them has failed us.

Let me explain. I owned four properties less than a year ago. One being primary residence, two being investments, and the other raw land. The value of these properties at that time were low. This was proven to me by the ease of purchase. I had no serious difficulty finding the money to secure these investments. Now all of my properties were in the Washington D.C. metro area. The D.C. metro area is an absolutely fabulous place to live or visit. I love the culture, the sites and seafood, the history, and not to mention it's the capitol!

Well now that same real estate portfolio that I had created would be worth less than half of what it would have appraised for just 3 years ago. Lucky for me I sold it. Most people did not, And now with real estate agents reporting day on market times going in to the five and six hunreds ... it's not pretty.

So I guess my question is, what happened to the value? I still truly feel that there aren't many places on the planet to live that are much nicer that the D.C. Metro area. You see I have live in quite a few places, so I can say that. I've lived in; MD,WV,SC,OK,VA,FL,GA,NY,DC, and Germany. I've visited quite a few coutries and states as well. With all I've seen, I can say with confidence that the Washington DC area holds it's own. It really is breath-taking.

My value is not gone. People all over the planet would love to purchase those same properties that I once owned. They would love to have a vacation home in the same zip code as the U.S. Commander and Cheif. So what's all of the fuss about? Well for the first time in history, America is so broke that we can't even afford our own land. I'm afraid that there are plenty of foreign investors waiting in the wings for this very moment. If foreign investors really knew first-hand what has hapened here, they would be buying up high-value propery by the billions.

Wait a minute.......THEY ARE!!

The current mortgage failure is not only a threat to our economy, it's a HUGE threat to our national security. My mission over the next twelve months will be to educate myself and others to the advantages of using our TSP, TSA or 401-k accounts to purchase leveraged properties as a tax-deferred investment instrument.