Two-Peso Weather Reports

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher.
It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward.
                                       -  Anonymous

       Randy Cunningham is a pilot that takes off from San Diego and is flying into Mexico.  In route to the airport at Cabo San Lucas, he starts to become concerned about the weather.

       Randy radios ahead to the control tower for a weather report.

        “Senor, do you want the two-peso weather report,” came the reply, “or do you want the five-peso weather report?”

       Knowing that the weather report offered for five-pesos is likely to be more accurate than one for two-pesos, Randy thinks for a moment and then answers:  “If you have a report for ten-pesos, I’ll take that one.”

       Randy Cunningham is a very smart man.  He knows that when potential risks are high, it's wise to pay more and get the best available information. 

       If you invest money in the real estate market, you surely realize that market conditions – just like weather conditions – can change at any time.  This year’s upward trend for housing prices will eventually shift into a downward trend, and most investors will be caught by complete surprise.  

       Of course, no one wants to hear this.  The real estate market may be heading directly into a storm, but everyone wants to believe that prices will keep going up and up because that’s what happened last year.

“$100 for Three Minutes of Work?”

       The other day I was with a good friend who likes to tune-up Porsches.  He’s an engineer, a mechanical genius, and he seems to have some kind of psychic feel for knowing what screws to turn in order to get an engine operating at peak performance.  

       Into his driveway comes a Porsche with an engine that is misfiring badly.  The owner jumps out and starts to tell his story:  “I’ve been to every mechanic in town.  I’ve spent over $800 trying to get the problem fixed and nobody can figure out what’s wrong."

       “Keep the engine running and pop the hood,” my friend requested.  Within three minutes, the problem was fixed.

       “Thank you. Thank you,” shouted the man.  “What do I owe you?

       “That’ll be $100,” came the reply.

       “What?  That only took you three minutes. How can you charge me $100 for only three minutes of work?  You only turned a few screws.”

        “That’s true,” my friend nodded.  “But unlike the others, I knew which screws to turn.”

                        Don’t be Penny-Wise and Pound Foolish

       My grandfather would always tell me:  “You can negotiate the price of products, but never negotiate the price of services.  As a rule, the services you get for half-price are not as good as those that are offered at full-price.”

       Just like the pilot Randy Cunningham, my grandfather was also a smart man. 

       You’ll still find real estate investors who are reluctant to pay for services that offer accurate investment advice.  And it’s because of people like this that Mexican air-traffic controllers offer two-peso weather reports.

       How about you?  

       Want to know what the weather is going to be for the real estate market? 

       If you want the two-peso “weather report” for the real estate market, you can read the business section of the newspaper or take a real estate agent out to lunch.

       If you want the five-peso report, however, I suggest you read The Campbell Real Estate Timing Letter.  It's five key Vital Sign indicators have a 78 percent success rate for correctly predicting the upcoming "weather" for the market.  

       As far as I know, real estate information doesn't get any better than this . . . even for the price of ten-pesos. 

                  To get the most current issue of The Campbell Real Estate 
                                 Timing Letter, >> CLICK HERE

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Want to know more about Robert Campbell's book Timing the Real Estate Market?  CLICK HERE