DConf 2013 Day 3 Talk 1: Metaprogramming in the Real World by Don Clugston

[Walter Bright]

On 6/11/2013 6:54 PM, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
> My profit on my first condo, which I bought in '99 and sold in '05 was 150% of
> the *purchase price*.  Minus the 6% commission :)  Although, it was only 3%
> because a family friend who is a real estate agent did not charge me her half.
> And I only had about 5% equity of the purchase price invested when I sold.

Consider that you rode the real estate boom using leverage. But that lever works 
both ways, as many found out to their horror a few years later. You can lose a 
lot more than 100% of your investment when you lever.

I've ridden a couple booms successfully, too. I made the mistake of thinking 
that was business acumen. It wasn't, as I got a very rude comeuppance on the 
back slope of the boom.

I live in the land of the Microsoft zillionaires. It's fun talking to them about 
their wealth. Most of them realize that they're worth $20m because lightning 
struck them, and behave prudently. A few delude themselves into thinking they 
are wealthy because they are business geniuses, and wind up getting reset to 
zero. Microsoft stock has been flat for 13 years now, and it isn't going to 
happen again to them.

I don't mean to discourage anyone from shooting for the stars in building their 
investments, I just want to point out that owning a home is far from the sure 
path to wealth it is too often presented as. As always, caveat emptor.