What are the wealthy people in your area doing with their money?

[NNN0LHI]

Around here they are snapping up foreclosed homes for pennies on the dollar and fixing them up to be rented out. Not sold. Ain't no money in that right now. Renting appears to be where the money is going to be made for a long time.

Don

[socialshockwave]

1. Our Canadian wealthy are just kinda derping around in their estates.

Not really that all exploitive.

[laundry_queen]

16. That's pretty much what I've observed. nt

[RKP5637]

2. I think most of the extremely wealthy here spend most

of their time trying to keep up counting all of their money that keeps pouring in ...

[trueblue2007]

17. spending it like crazy. I SEE HUGE YACHTS on the river

(live on a houseboat) and some of them have to be MILLION AND MILLIONS of dollars. selfish, greedy people

[RKP5637]

19. Definitely, MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars. The US is/is becoming

a brutal place for many. The wealth discrepancy is horrible. I think a huge number of youth today will be in poverty their entire lives. We have a vicious capitalistic system out of control devouring the country. I don't see how long it's going to last.

And houses too. I've been in some here that are so huge you practically need a GPS unit to find your way around.

[LadyHawkAZ]

3. Donating 10% of it to LDS, Inc.

which in turn buys up anything it can, tax free.

[Major Nikon]

4. Things are tough all over

My accountant said I had to cut back.

I'm having to light my cigars with small bills.

[Warpy]

5. Most of the real money in this state

has been tied up in thousands of acres of ranchland for a very long time and most of it is owned by absentee owners like Ted Turner.

That kind of money isn't going anywhere or doing much of anything.

[Initech]

6. Watch the Real Housewives Of Orange County.

$25,000 sunglasses, $1700 bottles of champagne, $1 million jewelry, it's pretty revolting and makes you want to locate the nearest pitchforks and torches. :puke:

[MichiganVote]

7. Eating into my pension that's what the goddamn bastards are doing.

[Retrograde]

8. Attending fundraisers for Obama

There's going to be a $35,800 a person dinner up the road a piece next week. I'm not planning on attending. Other than that, driving up real estate prices and pouring money into ill-conceived startups.

[Initech]

21. A $35K dinner??? WTF?

Damn most people buy CARS that cost $35K... that's insane!

[ThomWV]

9. I am the wealthy person in our neighborhood, and I'm donating to Elizabeth Warren

[rbnyc]

11. nice nt

[rbnyc]

10. Giving it to the 501 c 3...

...where I work as a fundraising executive.

:evilgrin:

[pitohui]

12. renters don't pay their bills, nobody makes money renting

i do know some landlords, most of them are either already in foreclosure and/or bankruptcy or they will be soon -- if you honestly believe landlords are making money renting to people who themselves have no money, as many of my more conservative friends stupidly believed, i sincerely invite you to try it and show us how all this wealth is to be made by renting to broke-ass people!!! there's no there there...it may have worked in 1920 but it doesn't work in this century

the true wealthy develop properties (entire neighborhoods, not a rental house here or there) and somehow they never have to pay their bills when it goes bad, i don't see a "wealthy" person buying a house and renting it out and doing all the fix-up and stuff...they buy entire neighborhoods, get gov't grants, and go from there

you DON'T get wealthy taking risk, you DON'T stay wealthy taking risk...i wonder if what you think is wealthy is just shaky middle class hoping to aspire because the true wealthy do not take risks with their own money, that's for the stupid people

[laundry_queen]

15. I beg to differ.

You can make big bucks renting ESPECIALLY if you buy a really cheap house. For instance - I rent. My landlord purchased this house at a normal market price. He also owns 5 other rental properties. My rent barely pays the mortgage and I'm guessing it's the same for the other rental properties. In fact, he probably takes a small loss and claims it on his income tax as rental loss and gets that deduction. Sure, right now, it doesn't seem like he's making much with his rental properties. I'm sure some people would even say he's dumb continuing to rent without making at least a couple of hundred extra per month on each rental property. But in 5 years, so long as the housing market here doesn't crash (it went down with the bubble before he bought), he could sell every rental property and pay off his own mortgage with the equity that the RENTERS paid for him. It's not easy money, but it definitely is one way to get your own house paid off sooner. Now just imagine buying a house that, at the peak, was worth $130,000. Now it's worth $55,000. The foreclosure price is $30,000. You spend $20,000 on repairs (and increase what the home is worth). Most people are paying mortgage payments of about $1000 in the area, say. You could charge $600 a month rent and make a tidy profit while building equity on that home. In 10 years, say, the house is now worth $110,000. You now owe $0. You sell it for $100,000. Times that by, say, 5 rental properties. In 10 years you'd have $500,000. Say the housing market never recovers. You sell the property for $55,000. That's still 275,000 at the end of 10 years and you didn't pay those mortgages, your renters did - and they generated a monthly income of $1000 during that time.

The problem is most people aren't patient enough to wait the 10 years. They try stupid things like 'flipping'. Or they have bad credit and can't get a loan. Or they don't have the down payment to begin with. Here in Canada, the rule is you have to put 20% down on a rental property if you want one. And let's face it - people don't want to be landlords. They don't want the call at 3 am in December when it's -30 out to hear a tenant say "our furnace died". And that's fine and that's why most people won't do it. But don't say nobody makes money renting. They do.

BTW, a SMART landlord will do a good job screening renters and probably shouldn't have a problem with tons of people skipping out. It's near impossible to rent where I am without a job, a good credit rating, multiple references and interviews. I don't have a job right now (going to school full time, living on child and spousal support) and I had to get my parents to co-sign my renter's agreement. I don't think there are TONS of people just skipping out on rent all of the time. At least not where I live.

[RKP5637]

20. I used to own some rental buildings and fortunately sold them all some years ago. The

margins were horrible. Between the ongoing maintenance (we kept them up well) and people on the edge (it was beginning then) making even a slim profit was damn hard. IMO renting properties is a brutal business. Maybe if one is a really major player they do OK, but for small time guys like me, it's a brutal business IMO.

[CTyankee]

13. I'm not one but...ones I know are investing in

1) education for their children. Good schools in good school districts (which mean high taxes in affluent areas or boarding (prep) schools). Voice and stage coaches so their middle school children can get a good part in the middle school play.

2) buying real estate in affluent areas where there is a reasonable reason to expect that it will appreciate in value.

3) Upkeep on their primary (and their vacation) home's value. Lotsa money spent here...

4) Taking vacations in Europe with their kids (10 and older) to keep up with everyone else who is and to keep them current with world affairs and give them a grounding level to what everybody else is doing with their kids.

5) Hong Kong tailors for the men's clothing (mostly suits, jackets and dress shirts). Women shopping in upscale shops.

Just a few what I have observed, upfront and personal (not me, tho)...

[femmocrat]

14. In our neighborhood, we are the wealthy people!

Not sure how the farmers are holding on. It must be very difficult for them. This was a terrible year for growing crops.

[Marrah_G]

18. Wiping their butts with it

because they sure as hell are not creating any jobs.

:angry:

[WinkyDink]

22. Keeping it on the DL.

[LadyInAZ]

23. Business in my area are

inflating the price of goods and services...making it harder to purchases anything....

[Mendocino]

24. Buying politicians,

cops and judges. Some things never change.

[MrSlayer]

25. In my neighborhood the "wealthy" are drug dealers and mob members.

The rest of us are regular middle class drudges.

[SmileyRose]

26. There are no wealthy people in my area

Rich people would not be caught dead in my neck of the woods. They send their hired help to deal with the rentals.

[Johonny]

27. Since I live in LA any number of reality shows answer this for you

seems like snapping up cheap property in LA was the 70s way to get rich. LA land seems still way overpriced to market foreclosed homes. Not saying some people aren't trying but not like they did a generation ago. Most of the people I know are trading on the equity market or on the stock market instead.