“It’s something worth more than your dollar.” I’m in St. Louis right now for a conference, and it’s the first time I’ve been travelling in the U.S. since the Canadian dollar surged past the U.S. Dollar. It’s very strange getting U.S. dollars exchanged and being handed back MORE U.S. money than what I provided in Canadian! Today, the stock market had a mini-meltdown .. oil traded above $96 for the first time ever.. the financial stocks took a huge hit, some losing 5% of their value in one day .. and foreclosure numbers continued to rise. It is a very interesting time to be an investor! A lot of people are feeling a great deal of fear and panic right now, not sure where to put their money. It’s times like this when there is a ton of money to be made, because as most investors follow their emotions, an investor that thinks strategically and intelligently has the opportunity to make a killing, regardless of what they’re investing in. While Alberta continues to be the place to invest in North America, I do think that over the next 12-18 months, there will be abundant opportunity in the U.S. I think the U.S. dollar will slide even further, but by late next year or into 2009, there will be amazing opportunities to go into well-selected markets in the U.S. and pick up huge deals. One of the markets I’m watching closely is the Las Vegas market. While they have tanked on the residential side, I think they will bounce back faster that most areas once the inventoy problem goes away. They’ve got great job numbers, construction on the commercial side, economic growth and ongoing population increases. Right now, Nevada is the #1 foreclosure state in the U.S. In fact, there is 1 out of every 61 houses is in some stage of foreclosure right now .. that’s 1 in 61 houses! That’s simply incredible. That, of course, will drive prices way down.. but ever market is a cycle, so it’s a matter of time before it comes back around – and I intend to be there when the upswing starts again. Las Vegas is a great study of market fundamentals. Their problems are somewhat temporary, and it’s difficult for most people to see that the market fundamentals there are, overall, fairly positive. So what you’ll see is the market continue to drop, and at its worst, most people won’t want to buy there because no one is buying. And that’s precisely the time to move in and make a killing! I love this real estate game, because there is ALWAYS a deal to be had in any market.. and there’s ALWAYS a market somewhere that’s about to sell at a massive discount — you just need to understand how to identify them!]]>