| An ancient philosopher once said "May you live in | | | | the housing market meltdown or the banking sector |
| interesting times", and we certainly live in interesting | | | | meltdown, but it doesn't really matter because the |
| times these days! The recession that began towards | | | | question that remains is this: what in the world can we |
| the end of 2008 and has stretched into 2010 with little | | | | invest in now that the two main investment industries, |
| signs of lessening anytime soon has made us all stop | | | | the stock market and real estate, have imploded?! |
| and think about our investments in many different | | | | Well that's a very good question and it's exactly what I |
| ways. | | | | wanted to discuss in this article today. |
| When the recession began the first thing that crashed | | | | Some of the best times to invest, historically speaking, |
| was the stock market. Many people suggested that | | | | are when everybody else is panicking and certainly |
| this recession was fueled by the financial sector | | | | we've seen a lot of panic within the last couple of |
| meltdown. They were talking mainly about regular | | | | years. Does that mean it's time to get back into the |
| banks and also investment banks as well. For | | | | stock market or the real estate market? Maybe... |
| whatever the reason, the stock market became a | | | | The fact of the matter remains that there are some |
| very dangerous place to invest in at the beginning of | | | | incredible deals out there in both the stock market and |
| the recession. | | | | the real estate market. I know many investors who |
| While the stock market has come back to a large | | | | have invested heavily in real estate who are now |
| degree since its lows during the beginning of the | | | | underwater with their mortgages because the |
| recession, it's still a rather dangerous and precarious | | | | properties are no longer paying off the same level of |
| place to keep your money. Or is it? | | | | income that they use to. |
| Once people started digging a little deeper they | | | | This is because of several different reasons including |
| realized that the financial sector was melting down | | | | their inability to keep tenants who've lost their jobs |
| because the housing sector and the real estate sector | | | | because of the recession and their inability to refinance |
| had become massively overheated... what we | | | | mortgages at lower rates because the credit markets |
| commonly refer to as a bubble that had finally popped. | | | | are still frozen to a large degree. |
| It was the default of thousands upon thousands of | | | | What all that means is that if you have money |
| mortgages, to a large degree, that caused the banks | | | | available at the moment, there are great bargain |
| to meltdown in the first place, which then caused the | | | | basement deals to be had in both the stock market |
| stock market to crash. | | | | and the real estate market, you just have to be smart, |
| It's very convoluted and even today we are still not | | | | do your homework, and take advantage of a little bit |
| entirely sure which came first the chicken or the egg; | | | | of luck! |