Lance posted about this NY Time article describing the chaos post property bubble burst in Florida.

I’ve always been a little sceptical about th apartment developments sprouting up in Auckland and Wellington – the minimal returns (generally well below the rate of interest on borrowing), they hyped up valuations and the promises of capital gains to be made all sum up to a worrying and risky proposition.

So – with the holiday spirit in mind here is my top tip for Jan/Feb 2008 – if you have investment properties that run at a loss and were bought with the idea of making a capital gain on them, limit your losses now and sell – the price you get may be unpalatable but it’s significantly better than what you’ll get if you hold off selling for a few more months (and even more again than if the banks have to suddenly call in debt to ease their liquidity ratio woes).