{"id":748,"date":"2016-02-01T10:53:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T14:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/gloryseed\/?p=748"},"modified":"2016-02-02T07:55:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T11:55:35","slug":"the-big-short-the-rest-of-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/gloryseed\/2016\/02\/the-big-short-the-rest-of-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Short: the Rest of the Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"http:\/\/www.movieinsider.com\/m6937\/the-big-short-inside-the-doomsday-machine\"<\/a>
http:\/\/www.movieinsider.com\/m6937\/the-big-short-inside-the-doomsday-machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

By 2004 I owned real estate in 3 states, had 18 tenants, and two people worked for me part-time. In 2006 I sold it all, paid enough capital gains tax to support a family of 4 for a year, and sat down to watch the world come to an end.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I did pretty well. Really well, considering I had a wife, three small children, a growing church, a church building program, and I taught philosophy at a local college. I built the real estate portfolio in my spare time.<\/p>\n

Getting rich wasn\u2019t the goal, financial independence was. I was on my way out of my old denomination and I needed a golden parachute. In the corporate world sometimes you get one of those when you leave that world behind. I had to make my own.<\/p>\n

But I could see what was coming with the housing bubble. Don\u2019t let anyone fool you, lots of people saw what was coming. The problem wasn\u2019t information, the problem was psychology. I\u2019ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

So, after I left my old church, I decided to help others get out.<\/p>\n

From 2004 through 2007 I represented small real estate investors as they liquidated their holdings. Those were halcyon days if you were a seller.<\/p>\n

The prices made no sense from an investor\u2019s point of view and all the old timers knew it. So I bought the grand lists from the nearby towns (a grand list is a list of properties and their owners including the mailing addresses of owners) and I began a direct marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

My message was simple. I was the Jeremiah of my market. \u201cGet out now before it\u2019s too late!\u201d<\/em> I helped a lot of people get out. In my first year I became the number one listing agent of small investment property in a 20 mile radius. By the end of 2007 it really was too late and I went on to do other things.<\/p>\n

This is why watching, The Big Short was a little trip down memory lane for me. I could feel the old juices flowing. Those were fun times if you kept your head. Most people didn\u2019t. I recommend seeing the film, it\u2019s great. If you\u2019re not familiar with it, here\u2019s the trailer\u2013<\/p>\n