Old Auctioneers Trick
When I was a big time real estate auctioneer here is a little trick that works every time. The buyers want to keep the bidding as low as possible so they play games of not bidding. When I would start a sale and no one would give an opening bid I would say: "Ok, sale is over, I will just put a price on it and sell it privately." That always does it, the bidding immediately starts. All you have to do is convince the buyers that there is a shortage of the product or it is not available, the price is going up and they can't resist. Buy up all of the milk and declare a milk shortage, then sell milk at double the price. Beats working.
Same in the appraisal business. Tell everybody you are six months behind and when a mortgage company calls say cash up front or I don't leave the office. They say can't do that and I say good, I don't have time anyway. They call back and say OK, go for it. They will pay at the door. It is easy to make money when you don't need it and impossible when you do need it.
The market is kind of like a crowd at a football game. The home team crowd is really wild until the other team makes a TD, then they die. As soon as the home team makes a good play the mood changes. That is where the media comes into play in markets. Put a pundit on TV and predict the market will tank and the market tanks. You buy it up when it is down, then send another lackey on TV and say the market will smoke, prices go up and you sell. Same theory. Like taking candy from a baby. It is a zero sum game. A loser is born every minute. For every winner there is a sea of stupid losers. Problem is that in our business the sub prime losers don't lose, the tax payers do. That is why I don't invest in equity markets, it is a rigged scam. I keep mine under the mattress where it is safe.
