I am not sure that there is a better business than real estate but I am also not sure if there is a tougher one in today's market. Home values countrywide are incredibly low and continuing to drop in places. Those in really bad shape now are the ones that bought five or so years ago when homes were way overpriced. Those in really, really bad shape are those who also got into a mortgage that seemed like a good idea at the time but made little sense in the long-term.

I live in California, where the prices of homes five years ago was way above the assessed value and people routinely had buyers with fat checkbooks knocking down their door to get into homes. Unfortunately, I had just moved to Los Angeles, and I needed a place to live. Going with the conventional wisdom of buying is better than renting, I bought property.

This mindset put my wife and I into a condo that we could not nearly afford. When we applied for the mortgage we were sure we would be denied but when they said yes, we just figured they were smarter than us. Well, the mortgage was an interest only and so we were not building equity. When my wife got pregnant again, she decided to leave her job and full-time salary with it. We were setting and had set ourselves up for trouble. As things got worse and bills piled up, we found ourselves on decrepit furniture with home space heaters to warm us.

Sure enough, the bottom dropped out and the housing market as well as the economy took a nosedive and crashed. Our home value declined, but our mortgage was still the same. We were barely scraping by month-to-month and now we couldn't even sell and make money. Finally, after a bankruptcy, we decided to become totally free and clear and get rid of our home with a short sale.

We are currently doing much better renting a home. I hate that we went through what we did but, had we not, we may not have learned some valuable lessons.

Income property is where I would put my money. I would have a tenant to pay the bills for me. The home would need some work when we bought it but not too much. Nor more than a coat of paint and a few cheap home decor accents wouldn't take care of. The home would not be more expensive than I could afford and would even be quite a bit below my price range. Finally, the mortgage would be fixed and income earning.

The last thing I would want is the worry of a mortgage month to month that I couldn't cover. The only thing I would want is a home with real value that anyone could see and I would be able to hang onto it long enough to make it a really great resale property, whatever the economy threw our way.

Share on Facebook

What We Lost In Real Estate is a post from: IRS Tax Problems?

• Real Estate Secrets - Making Money With Multi-Family Homes Their media graffiti is everywhere; real estate gurus who want to take your money in order to teach you methods of buying and selling real estate that are supposedly going to help you to make a six figure income every year but in reality are going to result in you......
• Making Your Money Back: Similarities between the Tech Bubble and the Housing Bubble This post is a summary of a private discussion I've had with reader Josh regarding my post on spotting investment bubbles. He asks: When could I reasonably expect my Atlanta condo to be worth what it was 4 years ago when I bought it? I thought the discussion and similarities......