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General / Re: Become disenchanted with tax sales
« on: October 07, 2006, 05:46:48 PM »
Jreist:
Your point of view is understandable, but I still think there is opportunity in this field. Although as a relative new-comer I have to admit I don't know much about tax sales, I do know a bit about investing in general and think your frustration is coming from the same phenomenon that usually bites stock investors in the butt: hype around a particular investment creates a feeding frenzy that usually means that investment will become over-valued. Some of the best, most consistently successful investors (think Warren Buffett) make it a point of ignoring the latest trends in favour of patiently looking for undervalued, overlooked investments. Mr. Buffett famously refused to invest in any tech stock during that sector's heydays and for a time he was written off as being behind the times. Witness that now, looking back, he did exactly the right thing and is once again vastly outperforming the market. What does all this mean, when it comes down to it? For me, it means that if there are too many people who are talking about a particular property (either in forums, or if an owner of a neighbouring property says "it's been like a zoo around here", or if there are a lot of recent tire marks to an abandoned/vacant property) , I am likely not going to waste too much of my time on it. What I will do is look for those properties that people seem to have ignored, do my due diligence to make sure there is no good reason to ignore it, and then be the only one/one of a few people who are bidding on that property. This, of course, takes time and patience, as there are a lot of smart people out there, but for me, taking my time to find the right property at the right price will be worth the dejection I feel each time I see an admittedly great property go for outrageous prices.
Your point of view is understandable, but I still think there is opportunity in this field. Although as a relative new-comer I have to admit I don't know much about tax sales, I do know a bit about investing in general and think your frustration is coming from the same phenomenon that usually bites stock investors in the butt: hype around a particular investment creates a feeding frenzy that usually means that investment will become over-valued. Some of the best, most consistently successful investors (think Warren Buffett) make it a point of ignoring the latest trends in favour of patiently looking for undervalued, overlooked investments. Mr. Buffett famously refused to invest in any tech stock during that sector's heydays and for a time he was written off as being behind the times. Witness that now, looking back, he did exactly the right thing and is once again vastly outperforming the market. What does all this mean, when it comes down to it? For me, it means that if there are too many people who are talking about a particular property (either in forums, or if an owner of a neighbouring property says "it's been like a zoo around here", or if there are a lot of recent tire marks to an abandoned/vacant property) , I am likely not going to waste too much of my time on it. What I will do is look for those properties that people seem to have ignored, do my due diligence to make sure there is no good reason to ignore it, and then be the only one/one of a few people who are bidding on that property. This, of course, takes time and patience, as there are a lot of smart people out there, but for me, taking my time to find the right property at the right price will be worth the dejection I feel each time I see an admittedly great property go for outrageous prices.