To buy or not to buy?

This is the strongest the economy has EVER been.  Record unemployment at 3.5%, record real estate prices, record economic expansion.  IT'S HOT!  So do you buy right now?  


The answer is maybe...


Everyone who is chasing wealth gets tempted by the same things.  I have fallen victim myself.  The real estate prices are climbing, and so are the profits.  The market is a feeding frenzy, and there is chum in the water.  No matter what the fundamental truths of investing are, deals are getting snatched up right and left.  You don't want to be left in the dust!  So you lower your standards and fudge the expectations a bit, maybe even attempt to over extend in hopes that things will work out. 


We have all been there!  The last crash was the worst for the people who fell in to this rut.  So...do we buy now at the height of the market??  Only if it is a good deal. 


If the deal is as good today as it was 5 years ago and will be good 5 years in the future then buy it. 


If the deal is so good you have a general sense of its value without an excel underwriter, then buy it.


If you feel like you would be missing out on a once in a lifetime deal if you passed on it, then you should probably buy it.


Of course, this is not all inclusive, nor is it a definitive guide.  But for what it's worth, it's my two-cents, and I bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property in 2019 and will buy deals like them again any time I can!