Boredom in Belmar & Guaranteed RE Returns

Here is an article from someone that visted Belmar recently. I never thought of Belmar as Artcic like, but he does have a point. Some parts of the Shore can get very dreary in the dead of December. Sometimes there is nothing more depressing than driving through Sea Bright or Point Pleasant or plenty of towns in between when the temperture is below 16 and the wind is blowing off the ocean at 35 MPH.

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["People are realizing that real estate is a smart investment to make, a safe investment," beams Bonnie Fitzgerald, president-elect of the New Jersey Association of Realtors. "It's one of the only investments where you're pretty much guaranteed to get a return on your money."

Really? Real estate provides a "guaranteed return?" Even from highly seasonal vacation properties? The effusive Fitzgerald might not have ALL the facts at her disposal. Home prices along the Jersey Shore tumbled about 40% shortly after the stock market crash of 1987. But why worry about such disquieting "one-off" events when prices are still soaring year-after-year?

Real estate – it is no secret – has been a terrific investment for several years, especially since 2000. It has been so terrific, in fact, that many investors consider it a "can't-lose" proposition, which is often the state of mind that prevails immediately before a given asset class is about to become a "can't-win" proposition.]

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