Back in the day... and THE CRASH.

[Andrew Acuna]

I'm a relatively new investor and it seems to me a lot of people have stories about before, during and after THE CRASH. My question is, what were you doing before, during and what are you doing now. I would love to hear crazy deal stories and such. The way some people talk about the crash is similar to how people talk about other major disasters.

[Michael Boyer]

Not really a "crazy deal" but probably crazy in that it was more the norm for the ordinary person in an extraordinary time....

The boom....

So it was a Saturday morning in Stockton, California summer of 2004, and we had just listed an early 90's built three bedroom house in one of the endless subdivisions off I-5, not even in an ideal area. 

It showed well and I had hoped it might sell quickly.

A stream of realtors with buyers in tow looked at it in succession. My realtor called later that day and we had 10 full or over asking price offers and the fax machine (look up "fax machine" on google if you are in your early 20's) was still churning out offers when we accepted one for cash, 10% over asking price, no repairs, no inspections, closing asap..... It was almost triple the purchase price from a decade earlier. I was happy but some friends said we could have gotten even more....(pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered was the mantra I adopted)...

My realtor, an experienced, graying real estate veteran and I looked at each other.... we both knew this market would not end well and could not go on forever. 

It looked like no end in sight just yet....But there were clues the foundation was weak...We actually took the offer we did because every other offer was 100% financing or close (or over 100%)... No one had any money.... Just dreams and easy financing... 

The bust....

We drove by a few years later to see how the yard looked... it was brown, weeds here and there, with the sad GMAC foreclosure sign in the window... The roses were still hanging in there, though.... but it looked pretty lifeless otherwise..

Later I would watch several prime time news shows about this area being "ground zero" for the housing bust with large swathes of foreclosures (even municipal bankruptcy).