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Re: Re: Re: Ciel

The difference between you and me is that you focus on what he could not control (The Great Recession) while I focus on what my could control (poor risk management). What made it poor risk management is that my father was not qualified for the home developing industry, did not start smaller and invested a sizable chunk of his and my mom's net worth into it.

Even if the 20-home Gettysburg development had worked out, I know that my father would have gotten himself into a major money loser. With a first time success, he would have thought he knew what to do and would have gone into bigger and increasing the amount of developments at one time. When you keep throwing more and more money into a business without taking account risk management, eventually things will come screeching to a halt.

It happens a lot in sports betting. A rookie starts off well. They keep spending more and more money, and eventually, a major loss occurs at which poin the rookie is out of money to bet or ends up betting more.

posted by FormerStudentIntern on June 9, 2018 at 11:16 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Re: Ciel

I suppose it depends a lot on who his partners were and how qualified they were to take on that project. But they were not prepared for the economy crashing, which was out of their hands. It sounds like that's what killed the project.

posted by Ciel on June 9, 2018 at 6:13 AM | link to this | reply

FSI

I think you have an innate sense of business and timing. Yep.

posted by Sea_Gypsy on June 8, 2018 at 11:16 PM | link to this | reply

Re: Ciel

It's not the circumstances that made my father's 20-house development a bad move. The world was not expecting it. I agree with you when you say that in general, but there is something else that has formed my opinion on it not being a good move.

What made it a bad move are as follows:

1. My dad had no experience in building houses and their developments.

2. The only experience my father had in real estate was helping his parents with their rental houses and owning six rental houses of his own. Five those of those six houses were/are money pits.

If my father wanted to get into real estate development in the form of building houses and their developments, he should have started smaller and researched them. Build one house before getting involved in a development.

Taking risks is a major part of living a fulfilling life. Still, there are limits. For instance, if you told us Charlie just bought a dinner theater, I would be confident he would do well with given his theater background. If you told us he was putting every penny he had in a tackle and bait shop, I would be concerned, thinking that he should research the industry first by working at one, subscribing to trade magazines and going to industry conventions.

posted by FormerStudentIntern on June 8, 2018 at 5:05 PM | link to this | reply

Sometimes it's hard for parents to admit their kids have a high level

of savvy - and we learn a lot from trying and failing. From previous posts I gather that you and dad work well together - and that's a very good thing.

posted by Pat_B on June 8, 2018 at 10:45 AM | link to this | reply

Probably buying land and holding it is wise although I have done so for nearly 50 years and am still waiting.

posted by C_C_T on June 8, 2018 at 10:45 AM | link to this | reply

Taking risks is how we learn our limits, but also how we discover our power and strength, especially when against all expectations, all logic, we succeed. Just because circumstances overcame your dad's group's project, it doesn't mean it was not a good thing to do.