April 27, 2006

HousingPanic archives - October 2005 - Nothing like cashing out at the top


SoCal bubble reminded me of this article we all posted back in October 2005 about the king of real estate investing getting out back then. Man, what a call.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and trust me, the pros are long, long gone. It's the poor folks, the greedy and especially the stupid amateurs who bought post-peak that are going to lose it all.

The king of real estate's cashing out

Tom Barrack is selling most of his U.S. portfolio. Maybe you should be nervous too.October 24, 2005: 7:56 AM EDT By Shawn Tully, Fortune Senior Writer

NEW YORK (Fortune) - Tom Barrack, arguably the world's greatest real estate investor, is methodically selling off his U.S. real estate holdings as prices drive the market to nosebleed levels.

He likens the current real estate market to a game of polo.

"I feel totally safe playing polo on a field full of pros," says the bronzed 58-year old. "But when amateurs are all over the field, someone can get killed. They have more guts than brains. They charge after every ball and don't know when to hold back."

It's the same with U.S. real estate right now. "There's too much money chasing too few good deals, with too much debt and too few brains." The amateurs are going to get trampled, he explains, taking seasoned horsemen, who should get off the turf, down with them.

Says Barrack: "That's why I'm getting out."

Right now, Barrack's view of the U.S. market couldn't be clearer: It's a great time to sell, and a terrible time to buy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel like Scrooge Mcduck sometimes.
Everynow and then I take my clothes off and roll aroung in my gold and silver coins!
Sometimes they stick to my butt when I get all sweaty.

Anonymous said...

Not the duck. More like Dom Delousie as the Roman emperor in "History of the World."