Thomas J. Gordon

Real Estate in the Midst of Bull Market

I didn't have the guts to go long reits generally but I did go long a few apartment reits thinking there might be some kind of move down affect from owner occupied and thinking that apartments have some stability in a down economy. I did a lot better than I expected. But I don't have the guts to go long office reits, hotel reits and the rest of the reit space.

Post-Election Stock Massacre

This article evades the obvious question. Is the market reacting negatively to the Obama election? Would the Dow be 10,000 if McCain got elected? When Clinton got elected I over reacted so I'm cautious this time. But Obama does not appear on the surface to be positive for investors (raise dividend tax, raise capital gains) plus his apparent favoritism to government intervening actively in private sector matters. It could be more than just the election. Obama looked like he was in the lead since the end of the Republican convention so you could say October was a response to a turn away from free market policies. Real estate bubble burst, financial panic, heavy gov't intervention by a Republican president, then a large win by people who feel only the gov't can fix economic problems even though the gov't creates no wealth. Is that worth a 7,000 point drop in the Dow?