How to Profit From The Coming 
Real Estate Bust

John Rubino

Like a smooth attorney summing up his case to the jury, John Rubino gives you every reason in the world to be very careful now that real estate has superseded stocks as the investment of choice. Written in June, 2003, Rubino is early.  But “early” means you won’t get knocked down if you head for the door.

Real estate is a much more serious bubble than stocks could ever be because not only does it involve the roof over your head, it also constitutes your biggest debt, a huge amount of employment and business activity, and enough political ramifications to cause major tremors under our political landscape in the event the author is correct.  Additionally, there is no liquid market for real estate as there is for stocks. That means there is no October ’87 to clean out the system in one fell swoop. Real estate busts take years to work through the system, with all the resulting hardships and recriminations that go with the bursting of a bubble.

Rubino wasn’t as prescient as Robert Shiller who published “Irrational Exuberance” in the same month as NASDAQ topped out above 5000, but if real estate does crack, this time nobody can say they weren’t forewarned.

The first half of the book is an excellent detailing of how the real estate market works, its history, and how the current bubble came to be. This is interesting reading for those who need to get current on the dangerous game we’re playing.

The last half of the book gets more specific, giving you a good overview of the alternatives to keeping you money in real estate, including everything from lifestyle changes to tax consequences to his main concern - safety.

All in all, an excellent (and concise – 250 pages) synopsis on what more and more experts are warning is our next major crisis.