I was playing a version of Monopoly with my 7 year-old son and 5 year-old daughter last week. My daughter managed to put together the highly sought after Boardwalk - Park Place monopoly and ultimately rode it to a convincing victory. My son spent most of the game trying and failing to put together a monopoly on the lowly purple properties (Baltic and Mediterranean). He was nearly bankrupt by the end of the game.

It took me back to my childhood and my many games of Monopoly. My strategy would almost always be the cheap purple and light blue properties. I knew I could get them cheap and build houses and hotels quickly. Others pursued the high-end royal blues and greens, while the muddled masses clambered for the good "value" properties on the other two sides of the board.

Fast forward twenty years and I now by "cheap" properties, fix them up and rent them out. Perhaps that just reflects my age, financial picture and stage in my REI career. But perhaps it all goes back Monopoly and we start showing our true colors at a young age.

So does your real estate investing strategy mimic your Monopoly game strategy from your younger years?

Mike