Monday, August 15, 2011

Real Estate vs. Futures Market and Still Sad

My home was sold yesterday at its first open-house. The turn out was much better than expected, and there were a few offers. The keenest buyer (a very impressive couple from mainland China) issued a check on the spot and deal was sealed. I made a 290% profit (I think...anyway, I sold at a price that is 3.9 times the purchase price). The unit was purchased in 2005 and fully paid for at the point of purchase, so the entire sales proceed will be going into my account. D was glad, and began his online shopping spree late in the evening. I began to look at more properties to buy. The plan is to wait to see if there's going to be a correction before committing to some serious debts.

Sea is definitely thinking otherwise, but I think my agent has done a splendid job of marketing my property. I could have sold my own home (which was selected by Sea's husband after much research, while he was still taking real estate courses), but seeing how my agent worked on both potential buyers and me to close the deal in one open house has been an eye-opening experience and she is definitely worth every cent that I'm paying her (it was a difficult project, as I have, in Sea's words, "not enough walls" (I hacked all the walls that I was legally allowed to), which effectively drives away many who could afford a sizable unit that was supposed to come with 3 BEDROOMS, at a time when demand for units in the vicinity of our business district/ city centre was dropping at a rather alarming rate). I called her while she was completing the paper work for the transaction and congratulated her for a job well-done, before telling her that I am a qualified real estate salesperson myself. She responded by asking if I would consider joining her team (she is a division director). I replied that if I did, Sea would surely kill me (I am officially with Sea's husband's division). She laughed and added that Sea might kill her too, and I agreed fully with her.

Shanel caught my attention when I was out hunting for my new home. She was representing sellers of 2 lovely units that came with patio and I had approached her as a direct buyer. I was shown the units only at the open-house and there was a good crowd. Later that evening, she text me to inform me that one of the units was sold on the spot, and the other was close to being sold, and offered to help me look for similar units. I wrote her days later giving her details of my home and my asked price and asked if she thought she could sell my unit. She called to tell me that she fell from her chair when she saw my asked price, but that she would like to give it a shot.

And the rest is history.

The temptation to set aside a sum from the sales proceed for trading is great, but I am adamant about sticking with my original plan of investing the entire sum in real estate. D's assessment is that I am definitely a better real estate investor than a daytrader. 

I have been missing everything about trading: the getting in and out of market, the writing about my trading and the interacting with traders I've come to know in the past 3 years. I have felt terribly sad at the end of every day that I have been away from the market, and both the successful purchase of my new home and the sale of my current home had totally failed to cheer me up.

I am looking forward to a very hectic schedule once I join my brother-in-law officially. I have already begun to do real housework and God knows what I will resort to doing next if I don't go back to obsessing over KPIs.

I have no idea why, but this piece reminded me of the good old trading days and J (who still has not surrendered his last name despite my 2-month silent treatment/ protest):



I will respond to comments from the past week in a separate entry.

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1 comment:

Soullfire said...

Congratulations on getting a terrific net profit of your home. =) That's an amazing amounts of appreciation!

I have to say, you're quite the curious oddity when it comes to trading...

The reasons you give for deciding not to trade are easily countered when your past behavior is recalled. You mentioned that you just don't have the focus, but on more than one occasion, you have engaged in marathon trading sessions that have lasted over a day while you dutifully watched your charts without skipping a beat. Unfocused people can't come close to doing that.

I'm reminded when I discovered your site and yours stood out as you were trading small, posting your entries,exits, and results and was achieving fairly consistent success. All the "blue" IB trades stood out at a time when I was the captain of the big "red" machine. =) Your site was a nice change from the other sites I have seen that were largely struggling with their trades like I was.

Looking at your methods tell me you don't really need to relearn how to trade. IMO, all you need to add to your arsenal is fluency in support/resistance trending areas that will keep you on the right side with your laser-like trading precision.

When you are ready, I have a feeling you'll be returning to engage the markets again sooner than you anticipate. =)