Is it a good time to Invest in Real Estate or in your first Home?

Real estate in India is going through troubled times where most of the major players
are facing a major liquidity issue. This added with the buyers staying away from buying homes have really impacted the demand. Most of the major markets in India have already seen 15-20% correction. So is this the right time for genuine first time buyers who are looking for a home. Well looking at the current scenario it looks like there will be another 10-15% of price correction at least that's what every one thinks including me. So I think people should wait, may be for another 6-8 months before they take this major decision. This is my reason of justification. With too many unsold units in the market the sellers will obviously start getting desperate to sell out even if it means no profit margins and this will force them to further reduce the price. This can trigger a competition among builders to sell their inventory. This scenario can further reduce the price.

So all those buyers, be patient and wait for some more time, and am sure you will get a great deal.

My Friday post on stock market

Want to justify my previous post, last weeks bullish market was temporary and if you see world over the market had been bearish and as of today the american market also been down about 250 points. With more negative news like the automobile sector and with the quarter results coming by I think we can expect more down turns

Is the economy bouncing back?

Both in U.S.A and India the stock markets had been witnessing a surge this week. Is this a sign of economy falling back in track? Well I don't think so this is purely an impact created due to the various stimulus packages which is creating a positive sign for all the U.S banks. This will be temporary and am sure that the morale will turn bearish with more economy statistics like job loss, new jobs created, home sales figures comes out for the month. I am sure there will be more job cuts and companies will face growth challenges for atleast another 3-4 quarters. Especially in U.S I still don't understand how the green initiation is going to fuel the next growth.

Citibank Stocks

I remember a headline in CNN Money that Citi Bank stocks have fallen below 1$ for the first time in near future. They were trading for 92-97 cents which was highly undervalued for a company like Citi Bank. So if some one with loads of money and who is ready to take some risk and invested on this stock, he would have tripled his investment as the stocks have gone up almost 3 times after that fateful week.

So if you are an opportunist and ready to take some calculated risks you can make loads of money in the stock world.

Health & Education in U.S.A

Reading through different articles one thing is for sure, U.S.A is facing a collapse in its health and education policy. If we see the current scenario both health and education is getting so costly no common person can afford it. Both health and education is one of the key drivers for building an efficient and productive new generation.

If you see the current scenario that people who loose jobs are no longer able to continue their health insurance they will be bankrupt if they get sick and is hospitalized.

If you see the statistics from U.S Census Bureau it says that only 26% of Americans have a college degree or high degree. So what could be the reasons for this? The public schools are free here but after that any degree education costs are high. Students will have to either rely on their parents, scholarship or loans. America with a society with 2% savings and who lives out of credit cards, students cannot rely on their parents to fund them and scholarships are only for the bright ones. So the only option is to take a loan which makes them creditors the day they land with a job. Then they take credit for automobiles, home any thing you think about and their whole life will be revolved around in paying back debts. And this vicious circle will continue into their next generation.

So for U.S to really progress they need to relook at their health and education policies.

Dubai has become bankrupt- Its official now.

When I last time went to Dubai I was fascinated with the construction activity happening in and around Dubai. The number of projects here were so many that Dubai accounted for the world’s 50% of the cranes. The palm by Nakheel developers, Burj Dubai - tallest building in the world –being some of the prestigious developments.

Now I hear that there are no buyers for the luxurious palm villas and the Burj Dubai – Tallest building has been put on all due to a credit crunch. I had always had the feeling that the real estate scenario in Dubai was a bubble which was about to burst. I never could not justify the actual demand for so much of commercial and residential property in a small kingdom whose main economy was tourism and business trading. Dubai even does not have an oil unlike its neighboring state of Abu Dubai.

So with the latest development of Abu Dhabi bailing out Dubai of all its loans shows the reality.

787 Billion Stimulus

Lot of think tanks still debate whether it is the right time to approve a stimulus
Of tax payers money with out a concrete plan on how this can be utilized to overcome the current crises. The big question is what is going to drive the growth. Where will the banks invest in next when the general sentiments itself is very negative.

My feel considering Obama’s presidential priority is that the funds might be used in funding green projects.

Although the following article in LA Times contradict it.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-energy-stimulus16-2009jan16,0,922149.story