Banks Price Low to Elicit Multiple Offers Real-estate brokers say multiple offers on certain homes have recently become more common in parts of California and Arizona and the Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan areas. . . Brokers say banks appear to be deliberately setting asking prices low in some cases to provoke bidding battles...Read More
Can We Afford Wall Street?I’ve got a way to make palatable the $3 trillion (or is it $4 trillion? Or $6 trillion?) injected into Wall Street (so far). Don’t think of it as a bailout, think of it as alimony. Yes, alimony. As in, what you pay to divorce someone — or in Wall Street’s...Read More
Multiple Offer Premium > Discount? Where: 30XX 43rd Ave South, in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood (and just 5 blocks west of the Mississippi)How much: $17,900Tax assessed value: $143,000 (land – $44,200; building – $98,000)On Market: 3/13/09Off Market: 3/16/09 So what are the chances that the ultimate Buyer is actually going to pay $17,900 for this foreclosed...Read More
What’s So Bad About Bad Credit?? For many consumers, preserving one’s credit rating is one of those sacrosanct, preserve-at-all-costs values. But what if you don’t plan to buy anything? Or are afraid to? Or simply can’t afford to? Then, a trashed credit rating really may not matter so much. Especially if it means ditching a...Read More
Berkshire ’09 Annual Letter — Part Two For investors, perhaps the most tantalizing — and useful — part of Warren Buffett’s 2009 letter to shareholders is a little tidbit that’s appended to the end. Actually, it’s a solicitation, addressed to perhaps a few hundred people in the world. Who? People who run or have large...Read More
Memorable Quotes from Berkshire’s ’09 Annual Letter In 75% of [the last 44 years], the S&P stocks recorded a gain. I would guess that a roughly similar percentage of years will be positive in the next 44. But neither Charlie Munger, my partner in running Berkshire, nor I can predict the winning and losing years...Read More
