December, 2008 | Ashworth Partners

As I sit here looking out at the snow while I’m taking time to review and update my goals for the year there are stars aligning to make the new year a positive one. Especially if you are looking for alternatives for your investment and retirement money. The stock market hasn’t been good to us (I look at my account statement from between my fingers!) and the prognosis for the next year or two isn’t much better.

In contrast there are a number of reasons to consider owning multifamily properties, specifically apartment complexes with more than 100 units. Before I go into the reasons why now is a good time let me first be clear about what I’m NOT recommending, the landlording business. The reason to focus on properties with more than 100 units is that they are large enough to support both professional management and professional maintenance; most likely having both onsite full time if not living there. As an owner of this type of property your job is to review the management reports and manage the managers, not unclog toilets or take phone calls from tenants. Continue reading Why buy Multifamily in ’09?

We’ve cornered ourselves trying to bail out the “Too Big To Fail” banks. In trying to keep them alive in the name of saving the financial system we’ve been pumping them full of our childrens’ tax dollars to little effect and we wonder why they’re not really lending. The downward spiral of their balance sheets from both toxic assets and falling stock price continues but how to stop that spiral is being debated hotly in boardrooms, financial markets and congress.

What’s preventing a solution from emerging is the “Too Big To Fail” trap. Until we recognize that these banks have already failed and we are throwing good money after bad we will continue pouring money down a bottomless hole. It’s like lending ‘grocery money’ to a junkie. We can’t allow ourselves to be held hostage by a handful of big banks. Continue reading The Bank Bailout Trap