Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

If you have a fixed rate mortgage with a reasonable intrest rate it probably doesn't even keep up with inflation, so you're safe there as long as you can periodically adjust your income for inflation. In fact your house will get cheaper the longer you hold it that way.

You have lots of metal, apparently, as long as you keep a sizeable portion of that you'll have your mortgage secured in times of trouble, just sell a little and make payments, or if its bad enough and there is no demand feature on your mortgage, sell a little and watch it pay the whole thing off.

Land is good. Especially land you can live on and grow food on. It is more valuable than gold and silver, ultimately managing that land effectively can bring more gold and silver to you. I don't know how your state looks, but around here acreage is getting ever scarcer. I do believe that if we fall upon hard times a lot of the more astute and wealthy people out there will figure out that a well managed estate is where its at and such properties will be gobbled up. Owning land is like owning a gun, a good thing to do before you even worry about stockpiling metals.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

If you can buy land, now is probably the time to do it. It's getting much harder to find, though if the housing bubble bursts, you might get a better deal on it. I'd be a bit concerned, though, about buying land for a retreat/homestead in a wilderness-type area that is a known vacation spot. I suspect that if people ever start fleeing the cities, the first place they'll head is the wilderness vacation spots they're familiar with. Is there, perhaps, something else within an hour of you that offers better farmland and fewer tourtists?

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Maddie's hit the nail pretty good.

It's reallly hard to say - gut tells me to wait a while - but if it's really nice and exactly what you want, might be better to go ahead and get it.

It's a really tough call.

Sometimes, you just have to go with your own gut.

If it's beautiful, you would like living there and you wanna start things rolling to move there, I say go for it.

If you'e doing it to secure a bugout spot and don't wanna go for a while - I would likely hold off.

What if metals get beaten down? It happens.

What if there is deflation and you have debt, and the metals go down instead of up?

Bottom line - I personally wouldn't do it if it involved substantial debt.

Debt may be what would take you down the tubes.

I'm a believer - I'm gonna buy more metal. But I'm also gonna keep my debt way down, easy to handle in any concievable scenario.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

I don't think, anybody can answer that question, but you. You know all the "pluses" and "minuses", of your life, and consequences, of that decission.
All I can sugest is, if you decide to sell some, of the stash; perhaps advertise it here, on SR Classifieds.
Good luck,,,

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Thanks for the thoughts (keep-em-coming please). I do know the general area well so know what type of soil/forest to expect. Decided for now at least to head out next week and visit the site.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Housing bubble is an idea that gets batted around too much without enough specifics. Like anything else, some areas really are overpriced and simply don't have any fundamentals to support them. In general however, we've had 5 years of 10% per year inflation, increasing costs on everything from labor to construction materials, massive waves of immigrants legal and otherwise, the dollar has been trending down for the past century... the average price of the average home in America has actually been decreasing in terms of gold. There are many people out there who are also monetizing homes simply because they are a tax shelter and hard assets that won't devalue the way paper can. I'll go on record saying the housing bubble will be a fizzle, not a burst, and will be very dependent on location, as has always been the case in real estate.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

There is your answer, keehah. Raw land much like homes have seen a lot of markup recently. Your metals and land will go in the opposite direction.

Henceforth, in the future you will buy for less or buy and get more. :banana:

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Here in NYC houses are noticably cheaper than half a year ago. It may not be evident in areas where RE prices are not inflated as much. It's a good idea to wait a year or two, except maybe if you are paying high rent.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Allow me a question for you.

IF you do NOT do this land deal, can you live with the results IF by not acting now, this deal is NEVER available to you again? I know, I know, never say never.

But too many times I've seen people make decisions and they come to regret the fact that they made the decision they made. IN MOST INSTANCES, the people regretted not doing something, rather than doing something.

You can always sell the property later if you find that it is NOT the piece of land for you. You might even make a prophet. You might loose your shirt.

But the real question is can you live with some one else getting the deal you may pass up? That, my friend will give you some insight into yourself and how you feel about this particular deal.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

The bubble will burst. Consumer debt is still growing. One little hickup and people can't afford the payments on all this crap they've bought. It might take another year or two or three. But, it could also pop tomorrow. Demand decrease, inventory increase, then prices decrease.

I'm a casual listener to Dave Ramsey. Last Wednesday he had several callers in tears from overwhelming debt. The strange part was that the callers had incomes of well over $200k per year.

Eliminate debt if you sell any metals. Debt is a killer in a slowing economy. I'm still expecting an economy worse than 1979-1982.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Can you tell me when the housing market will collapse if in fact it will at all?

Can you sell your house when housing has collapsed?

Why not sell and rent now?

I rent off family and would not even think about a house right now.

What would happen if you lost your job and present income? How long can you survive and what are your options?

How will you be able to keep health insurance on your family?

I'd write 2 colums on a sheet of paper and list all the pros, cons and options. ....... You need a game plan.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Just one word of caution, don't allow the pleasent emotions of the vacations you had in the area sway your decision. If SHTF one of the last areas I would want to be in are vacation destinations. Unless your idea of a vacation is different than most people's, I would give it a second thought.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

I would not even consider land less than 500 feet above sea level. If there are quakes... well evidence of previous tsunamis is ample up there. Storms are getting freakish too, but big waves are the big risk.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

Same here and I am usually in shock about callers that know nothing about managing money making the type of incomes you mentioned. I listened to him a lot more over a year ago and shutter to think what would have happened if I'd followed his investing advice and joined his 'gold is a horrible investment' mindset. In fact if I recall he said that the only gold he owns is a pair of cufflinks, just look at its historical returns of gold he always says, ok lets talk historical returns of the DJIA. He is good at helping people get out of debt but I don't agree with his perspective on investing, obviously.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?
 

I've caught the Dave Ramsey show a few times when I'm near a big city.

Great show from what I've heard. It is stunning that people with 6 figure incomes have a debt problem. But I read awhile back that people with high wealth tend not to show it. People who look wealthy often aren't. They may have high incomes, but they spend most or all of it. The Dave Ramsey callers seem to fall into that category.

What is the historic return of the DJIA? *Googles*:

1896: 41.
2006: 11,000.

41 * (x ^ 110) = 11,000.
x ~= 1.051.

DJIA: About 5.1% annual returns.

Lets try gold for the same time period.

1896: 21.
2006: 614.

21 * (x^110) = 614.
x ~= 1.031.

Gold: About 3.1% annual returns.

/The more you know...

PS: As for the original poster, for investment, your current mortgage has a guarenteed return of whatever the interest rate is - mortgage tax benefits. Look at how much that interest is really costing you each year, and over the life of the mortgage. The lack of a mortgage payment makes hard times easier. There's something to be said for paying off current debts instead of collecting more debts. Just my $.02.

Re: Should I sell some metal to buy acerage?