I’ve had people hang on to the letter for a year and a half and then call and I bought their properties with massive profits.

A college degree isn't perfect, but it helps establish a baseline and improves financial stability (assuming they're not taking on massive debt in the form of student loans).A safe $75k real estate investment is typically going to generate minimal cashflow that will be peanuts compared to monthly living expenses.

As Warren Buffet has said (quoting his mentor Benjamin Graham), “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." 

I consider the past ten or so years an anomaly, but across the country, I would say RE prices do not outperform inflation, especially when you consider costs to maintain the property and the massive capital expenses that will need to be paid every 30 or so years.

Maybe manufacturers are having massive profits, builders % are not, healthy yes but not anything that has any sizable area to lower. 

A little FYI on Minnesota being "mostly empty", we have development at MASSIVE scale going, an EPIC level housing shortage, and the economist, quants and builders looking that we "might" achieve parity (supply meeting demand) in best case scenario 7 years, and that was stated as a best case scenario, with no more impactors, and continued GROWTH to building out-put on pace, and relief of supply constraints.

Massive layoffs in the last few weeks.

Recently we were shocked to find insurance on one house we were considering was going to be 3x another house a block away and roughly the same size- all because of the block wall construction and massive porches- replacement cost was much higher than normal.Kelly

I'm so glad I clicked on this link from the daily update emails.Two things I take away from this great story.One is that @Brie Schmidt took massive action and got massive results, with a lot of hard work and great networking mixed in there.

The shadow inventory numbers recently released reveal that the GSE's still have a LONG way to go to clear out the massive amount of non-performing loans on their books.