Nothing will be any cheaper in our future.... And some things, like insurance, food, petrol for the ride & health care costs will be astronomically higher... The System nails you on the basics that you must have to stay alive.
east coast uncrowded good surf,$5,000,000 or not. place in Buxton on high ground. victorian inn in Cape May and run it with my wife. if it works out,add something on Block Island to that...
Bursting your bubble (and the real estate bubble) didnt you guys learn anything about real estate investments from the last 10 years? Its not exactly a sure thing these days. How about the EXCHANGE RATE. In costa rica, 20 bucks or 10000 colones spends the same.. somehow. If you want to make that money last, take it somewhere that 20 colones spends like 20 bucks, if you catch my drift. in soviet russia, money exchanges you. AND winning 5 mil you might see 2.5 or 3 after taxes. Buy some houses, pay that 5% up front, then whatever % yearly for eternity... uncle sam ends up getting a HUGE chunk of those winnings. That $ will then get spend to bail out the guy down the street who forecloses and brings down the value of YOUR houses (investments). TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. The only reason I would buy a house these days is to live in it. Even then, i have found some VERY lucrative rental situations in the last few years as many of my friends are locked into mortgages but have to leave the state / country to follow their careers and would lose their a55es selling their homes in this market. my 2 cents, but its all a fairytale anyways
Zach, Et Al I don't want to sound Korny or fuddy duddy for a long boarder as it comes with age I'm a post WW II baby boomer, we didn't have so bad when we left the nest, at least the necessities of life were obtainable. I and my generation really feels for you and your generation to obtain a similar quality that we have enjoyed. The real estate bubble burst and prices will continue to fall but what concerns me is in our day housing was in the area of 25%-30% of combined salary. I've heard housing costs today by analysts running as high as 45%-50% even when incomes are above the national average income level. People like to have a little piece of ground they can call their own but it can't be the American Dream that's only a Dream.
I would rent, and I wouls travel, but there is no way in hell I would live on the east coast - esp. in winter! (I know the crowds are fewer - but everyone can see, that is gradually changing), my blood has justy gotten too thin! - so I figure I can spend winters in warm spots with good surf and manageable crowds - those places are still out there, you just need to know where to look.
"Two chicks at the same time " You don't need 5 million for that,.. more like the cost of a 24 pack, trust me on this one hEY, aka/PUMP,...I WILL BUY A MEMBERSHIP IF I GET TO CHOOSE WHOM I get to hUNT For years i have wanted to pay the army corp off to build us at least one new jetty, so that the locals could have one more go to spot on all of those swells that will not work with our straight coastline. I might even have a few bucks left to have a full weekend party with police protection You know, fly the Reef Girls in..etc.
Thats not fuddy duddy at all. That is just the truth of the matter. The wife and I were just discussing this. I mean both of our sets of parents were hard working, young parents, whose modest combined income earned them a beautiful row house in Baltimore and a nice home in frederick... They owned at about age 20... 5 years later, both of our families had the american dream. Homes in the burbs with a fence and a yard... And now, in 2010 its a whole different world. I am glad that we did not buy a home in the last decade... Mainly because we just couldnt afford it. But now that our incomes and careers are on track, we have the income to buy something VERY modest. A townhome in VB or something... I just really hope in the next four years we can make it a reality. I want something modest so I am not dumping most of our income into the interest rates on a home... I just feel like 30 years ago, you walk into a place, show them your pay stubs for the past few years, and BAM... out the door. With all the lines of credit and college loans and life, everyone i know in my generation is in debt by age 18. At 30, I still have a couple grand left on my college loans. Im still in mild debt and the wife just graduated and we are paying off her 20k tab monthly now too... With the needs of life these days, people in my generation are so knee deep in debt and expenses that we really overlook the "american dream"... People settle for a decent apartment and invest in a 50K car now days... Its like, the servers in my restaurant own BMWs and brand new vehicles, and all of them rent. Its just the new american paradigm... The country has made it so we can't attain these things, so we dont even both caring... sucks for us... But hopefully those of us who time things right can get in on this bottom of the barrel real estate pricing. It will all come back up. I just hope a lot of people on this forum will have the ability to get a part of their dream during these bad times.
if i shall win 5 mill i will take about half of it put it in multiple bank accounts keep it nice and secured and let it gain intrest. the other half is i would buy a nice 3 br 2 bath beach house on wrightsville beach facing the beach and with a dock move my family into it. then i would buy a newer model boat preferably a 20ft to take me offshore fishing and still be able to take me to the secluded islands to surf. the i would buy new cars for my parents, myself and my sister. and take a 3 weeks family trip/surf trip. i have no colleges loans as i havent hit college but my parents pay that with no college loans. my family is not in debt so i dont have to worry about that.
makes sense Nuff said. I actually looked at Iguana when I first started looking in Nica. Nice place, but it seemed a bit sterile with the gated thing going on. It looked like the kind of place that gringos buy when they don't want to have to be exposed to what life is really like in Nica. I was actually introduced to Nica by a friend of mine from VB who is developing Iguana Hills across the street from Hacienda. I'm just an older guy who doesn't need the big surf offered up there. I'll be happy just getting wet in my retirement and becoming a local while enjoying the slow pace of life in SJDS with my girlfriend. Good Luck!
Interesting passive-aggressive act you've got going on, Crockajet. Many expats try to make a life in Nica & in so doing they get off on going 'local'....unfortunately, it becomes an egotistical, strange little pissing contest for some guys (and you sound like one of 'em) to see who's more 'local.' Iguana is a unique, fantastic location on two of the prime surf breaks in Central America. Local food is there, local flava is there & so are creature comforts. In short, it's got it all...if managed properly, it's blue chip all the way. And with the paving of the road to Gigante, more good stuff is a-comin'... Iguana's hardly sterile, pops. Your little sidecrack about "the kind of place that gringos buy when they don't want to have to be exposed to what life is really like in Nica" is totally off target. Give the high & mighty act a rest, gringo. You're not exactly living in a shack & getting about on your oxcart while you diddle your 1,000 cord per month rental chica, er, girlfiend. You pay the gringo price for goods & services just like all the palefaces - - and don't kid yourself: you'll always be el gringo to the real locals. Buena suerte, "local."
Zach, Your servers own BMW's because it's SoCal. That's just how it is. I've spend a lot of time in the OC and that's what everyone does. The rent, drive fancy @ss cars and surf. Thank God for mommy and daddy. Either that or none of them have jack **** for savings. You are crazy for coming back to the East Coast and I don't believe that you can buy a condo a few blocks from the beach in San Diego for $200k either unless it's in the ghetto or 500sf. I know South Jersey is a lot cheaper but north/central Jersey is crazy. $600k gets you a mediocre house with about $12k in taxes. If it wasn't for family I would be outta here.
With $5M I would... Beg In and Out to sell me the first franchise. If that fails I would do the following: -Put $2M away for retirement -Put $350k away for my 2 kids college fund -Put $500k in a blend of tax free municipal bonds and corporate bonds - use this $ to fund vacations. Rates will increase as economy recovers. -$1M open up one/two 5 guys restaurants -$350k open up a massage envy franchise -$800k buy a decent house in NJ
travel around the world and surf until it was all gone. then return to oc and keep doing the same **** i was doing before i got 5 mil
Good one. I fortunately got to experience this once, but the girls didn't even touch each other at all just me. They weren't the best looking girls, but good experience at any rate. I would probably just take a trip if I won that kind of money. Maybe surf as much of the world as I could, and then maybe if I came across somewhere worth buying property or relocating to I would consider it. I really wanna surf Indonesia, but I definitely wouldn't wanna live there. Wouldn't mind Puerto Rico either if I had to move, but I have never been there. Just looks sick. I don't speak any foreign languages so I don't know how well I would go over, but hey with that kinda money I can hire a personal translator huh?
