Trump Headlines Real Estate Wealth Expo in Illinois
How do you get rich? Well, if you were to follow Donald Trump’s example, one way might be to get someone to pay you $1 million for an hour’s work.
That’s what the Learning Annex says it paid the ubiquitous real estate tycoon for showing up at the finale of its heavily promoted two-day Real Estate Wealth Expo in Rosemont.
Trump was the headliner at a combination trade show and seminar for property investors and wannabes. On Sunday night, the promise of 60 minutes of Trump wisdom absolutely packed a room at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, which has a seating capacity of 7,000.
I’m really not sure I’d call Donald Trump a successful real estate investor by any means.. Now, if Tom Barrack were giving a seminar, I’d go. If Warren Buffett were giving a seminar, I’d go. If Donald Trump were giving a real estate seminar? I’d say it’s time to get out of dodge. Trump is no doubt the reincarnation of Joe Kennedy’s Shoeshine Boy.
On the Homebuilding Front, Signs of Trouble
Investors certainly ignored a telling market clue: Donald Trump recently boasted in a TV ad that he was being paid more than $1 million to speak at a symposium on how to make money in real estate.That ad, coming as it did on the heels of the biggest bull market in the history of real estate, seemed to some Wall Streeters as an unmistakable sign of a market top.
On to the Brothers Toll.. It seems the market didn’t take kindly to even small signs of weakness on the homebuilding front. Most of the homebuilders were pummeled yesterday on the news.
Bell ‘Toll-ing’ for housing market?
On Tuesday, the high-end-housing builder Toll Bros. Inc. Toll Brothers, Inc. lowered its 2006 home-sales outlook on softening demand triggering a sell-off in the sector. Some investors see that as the straw that breaks the camel’s back. See related story.
“I think the homebuilders are finally showing a crack in their armor,” said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jeffries & Co. Listen to broadband interview.
Perhaps an even more important question is how far the damage will spread in the U.S. economy since many sectors are linked to the health of home-construction industry.
We’ve sure come a long way since “What bubble?”
Caveat Emptor,
Grim
Yeah the Tol boys unloaded a truckload of stock before they warned.
Anyone think just maybe they knew of this slowdown months ago?
Of course they knew, who could be so naive to think this trend could have continued?
I would have cashed out shares if I was in that position. Is this any different from the last bubble? Top tech execs were cashing out like crazy at the top.
This time is no different.
Insider Sales Hit Record at Builders
Merrill Lynch quantitative analyst Richard Bernstein said he has seen record net insider selling during the past 10 months at eight of the 12 home-building companies he has tracked.
“This record level of selling comes despite the general perception that the stocks are undervalued, and despite that Wall Street analysts have few ‘sell’ recommendations on the stocks,” Mr. Bernstein said in a note to clients.
He sees parallels between the housing sector and the technology industry before the bursting of the tech bubble. He said that within a year of the tech bubble’s peak, about 14 of the 20 tech companies he tracked at the time reported record net insider sales and 16 of 20 within 18 months of the peak.
The market is finally starting to see the parallels. It’s still too early in the day to tell, but something very peculiar happened (or didn’t happen today). The homebuilders didn’t rebound this morning. In fact, some are trading even lower yet.
Caveat Emptor,
Grim