Strategies for the Coming Apocalypse

As regular readers of this site know there's plenty of sentiment (and evidence) that we're headed for some bad times, maybe even some truly TERRIBLE times.

I have two questions:
1) Are you worried and, if so, how are you preparing?
2) Since all â"disasters' have within them the seeds of opportunity, what opportunities do you foresee and how will you exploit them?

Personally, I'm worried, but baby, I've been worried since the 70s. I've raised my cash position in FDIC-insured institutions (sure wish I'd done it sooner). I've got cash on hand in case there are any â"bank holidays'. I've got some junk silver because, well, some book I read in the 70s said that was smart. Got my pistols, rifle and shotgun, but should probably stock up on more ammo. Don't have debt. Don't have any MREs or a big stockpile of food.

If deflation hits my cash will grow in value and my real estate and stocks will sink. If inflation hits my real estate will, hopefully, keep up, and I can, hopefully, raise rents.

As for coming opportunities I'm trying to stay nimble but conservative. I don't want to be the first to jump on the next gravy train, but I don't want to be the last, either. And I most definitely don't want to jump on some runaway train to hell.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Account Closed

805 posts
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Jan 14 '09, 05:44 PM

What?!?!?!?

Don't you believe the savior being inaugurated on Tuesday is going fix all of this? :cry:

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

NC Mark

Real Estate Investor · North Carolina

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Jan 14 '09, 06:14 PM

Well he did promise 'change'. And when you say fix, do you mean like I just had my dog 'fixed'?

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Jon K.

Real Estate Investor · Dallas, Texas

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Jan 14 '09, 06:21 PM

Cash may not be shelter if the economy collapses, The dollar could collapse too, even in an deflationary environment.

Free and clear real estate is good. People will always need shelter and give you something of value for it.

The ability to grow your own food is a hedge. As in farm land.

And of course, get right with God.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

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Demos Loizides

Real Estate Investor · Dale City, Virginia

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Jan 14 '09, 06:39 PM

Originally posted by Nc Mark

I have two questions:
1) Are you worried and, if so, how are you preparing?
2) Since all â"disasters' have within them the seeds of opportunity, what opportunities do you foresee and how will you exploit them?

First of all, ignore the economy (especially the stock market unless you are looking to get great deals). Focus on your business and your own personal economics. The opportunities will occur (unfortuanately) as more and more homeowners get behind on their mortgages and need to sell quickly. Most will be upside down, so the short sale experts should do well and I suspect the REO buyers will do well too. There will always be new investors that give up too easily and that will give the investors (who are in it for the long haul) more houses to pick from.

Hard money lenders are having problems which impacts rehabber investors. That's why (as a wholesaler), I'm now focusing on selling houses to cash buyers. This group can include rehabbers, but it will also include older people with the cash to buy their kids a starter home. There are still lots of people out their with the ability to buy houses for cash. They won't be limited to buying at 65% or 70% ARV.

Always look for opportunities and be prepared to adapt to changing circumstances. :cool:

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Jenny F.

Real Estate Investor · Baroda, Michigan

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Jan 15 '09, 02:02 AM

Im really not terribly worried about it since "He" is going to pay my mortgage and buy my gas....

Oh wait!!!!!!!! Im sorry!! IM the one who is going to be paying for all of those mortgages and buying all that gas....for the "faithful" entitlement victims of this country.....

I guess i will cling to my guns and my religion....

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Michael Rossi

Real Estate Investor · Ohio

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Jan 15 '09, 02:29 AM

I don't worry about things that I can't control. Furthermore, I think that a major collapse is NEEDED to end this ridiculous socialist entitlement system that we are now living under.

I am trying to be prepared. I have a stock of food in the basement that reaches from the floor almost to the ceiling. I am buying some extra ammo from time to time. I am paying off debt as quickly as possible and working hard to keep my rentals filled. That's about all I can do, so I sleep very well knowing I'm as prepared as I can be.

Mike

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor · Indiana, Indiana

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Jan 15 '09, 09:00 AM

Here's all I have to say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4s0nzsU1Wg

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor · Indiana, Indiana

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Jan 15 '09, 09:01 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4s0nzsU1Wg

Sorry - didn't link it.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Dan Estrada

Real Estate Investor · Bartlett, IL

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Jan 15 '09, 10:37 AM

I'm no country fan but I like the soul and passion in that one. That's a new version of an old song.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Aaron Norris

Rehabber · Riverside, California

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Jan 15 '09, 11:22 AM

1) Not worried. I'm being patient and not paying too much attention to the mass media. I like to do research but I'd rather focus on reading about my local market and whether things are selling and the state of the local economy.

2) This will create amazing opportunity for investors that have cash or access to cash. We're working on larger chunks of long-term financing. Sure would be nice if we could hold more than four loans!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Michael Rossi

Real Estate Investor · Ohio

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Jan 15 '09, 05:38 PM

Sure would be nice if we could hold more than four loans!

You can hold an infinite number of commercial loans.

Mike

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor · Indiana, Indiana

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Jan 15 '09, 06:23 PM

True Dan, but Hank also wrote the original in 1981. It's a timeless piece.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM by Tim W.

Christian Malesic

Real Estate Investor · Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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Jan 15 '09, 07:47 PM

I have convinced myself that one of the best investments right now is FOOD.

There are many reasons, some presented above, for stocking up on food, but the best for me is the peace of mind it brings in knowing that my family of 5 can eat if there is a crisis. If all totally goes to hell: we have a house, candles, wood stove, wood, food, and well for water.

Others may not be able to put that all together, but they can buy some extra canned goods or pasta or cereal or rice, etc..

I also have some concerns that food prices will go sky high. Again, investing in food now may save me money later.

And, if all the fear-mongerers that are saying this stuff out there are wrong, worst case is I can go a few paydays without having to buy any food for the family.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Dan Estrada

Real Estate Investor · Bartlett, IL

45 posts
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Jan 15 '09, 08:20 PM

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke

True Dan, but Hank also wrote the original in 1981. It's a timeless piece.

Yep, that he did. His voice still sounds much like it did then.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Lee Common

Real Estate Consultant · San Antonio, Texas

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Jan 15 '09, 10:49 PM

Tim,

Best damn song of all time!

Reminds me of bomb fires 15 feet high Kegs of beer and trucks stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere with friends that you can never forget.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor · Indiana, Indiana

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Jan 16 '09, 04:06 AM

I hear that Lee....lol. Man, I need to find a winter spot out of this frozen tundra. I keep looking at my spinning rod and my hand starts twitching. Plus if it all does go down I'd like a place where if I can't get heat in the winter I don't...you know....die.

Very true Christian. The irony is that if you're smart, you can store 1 year's provisions at a cost of about $1,000-$1,500 per person and have it be stuff that you can rotate out and use and restock as that year goes by. The worst that can happen is you use the food you buy. The simple act of having a pantry is a lost art amongst much of America and is a smart thing for investors to do since we sometimes may have 6 months to a year of no income in a field that's pretty hard to pull an unemployment check off of. My favorite source of info on how to do things like this is the Mormon Church. They are pretty good at this.

Tim

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:57AM

William Alston

Residential Real Estate Broker · Sacramento, California

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Jan 16 '09, 02:47 PM

Y'all
I see nothing but opportunity around me yet I still keep food in the house and a few other things like water, basic medicine and the ability to repel boarders.

I have done this since before the crash, because it only takes one crazy to ruin your day.

I agree with Tim about learning from others. The Mormon church has made an impression on me because of the people I met who are of that faith who were honest, hard working and human ( and they all kept fully stocked larders).

When I began to learn about the new economy that exists all around us (and that transcends space, time and international borders, yup the internet) I had the good fortune to meet some people, like the ones here, that share information without fear of reprisal nor expectation of monetary compensation.

Of course we all realize that helping others and making personal relationships is bound to lead us to at least opportunities of wealth but that's not what I mean.

If you want to get terminally optimistic watch this guy talk about the internet and where it is going. (Kevin Kelley from Wired magazine at the TED conference from 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDYCf4ONh5M

If this doesn't open you up to the possibilities then ponder this...

The internet is a baby and it is just waking up. (I have spent the last two years studying with people using some cutting edge research technology that opens up a door into a wider world.)

Here's my free advice to you...Anything is possible you just have to create it and it starts with an idea.

1. Find something that you are passionate about...anything just so long as you are passionate about it otherwise you will get bored and quit.

2. It must add value to the world as a whole and it must be sustainable, otherwise it will fail due to laws of physics.

3.Once you have identified it then know this in your heart of hearts.. there is a way to build a business around it.

Watch the video and if it doesn't wake you up and make you ask more questions then write me off as some weirdo on the internet.

If it sparks the questions I expect it will, then contact me, or somebody else for that matter who can tell you more about the internet and how it is the vehicle of unlimited opportunity.

When in the history of the world has it been possible for complete strangers to meet any time of the day or night with other people anywhere else in the world but never even have to leave their home?

Also ponder this fact that is readily verifiable from a quick glance at 2-3 Google search pages..

Less than 1% of the internet sites in the world are worth viewing. Google doesn't even index them. There is no competition on the internet, it only looks like there is.
If you understand how the internet is changing then you can take advantage of the new order of things and garner some of the new wealth that will be created.

I tell every agent that ever worked with me that the only competition in this industry is the competition between your head and your pillow. If you'll get your head up, get out of bed and go to work you can earn a living.

This is true now more than ever and I am constantly amazed by people who think otherwise.

Find a hole in the market, a niche, they are opening up everyday by people who have given up already.

Go fill the niche with good service, added value, something worthwhile that people really want or need.

Fill the need through the internet, that way you will be at work no matter where you are or when you are. At the same time you will always be on vacation for the same reason.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:58AM by William Alston

NC Mark

Real Estate Investor · North Carolina

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Jan 17 '09, 07:05 PM

William:

If you were intrigued by the link you posted you will probably like this book: "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:58AM

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor · Indiana, Indiana

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Jan 18 '09, 08:07 PM

Well, you never know when preparedness will serve you - even in the little ways. I was in a car accident last Thursday. I'm alright aside from the neck that won't quit hurting (seeing chiro tomorrow), however my jeep is dead and I've spent pretty much each day since then in bed. With my stock of food and supplies I don't "need" to leave for anything while I heal up.

It's usually not the big things you're preparing for. It's usually stuff that has nothing to do with politics or markets or currency value. I'd prep more for an ice storm or a tornado than I would an apocalypse.

For kicks, here's a newscast from 1982. Sound familliar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvwMZ-mTwks

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:58AM

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