rjstc

Txlaw, Grenville, Gio, Parsad. Maybe part of the problem also is that he is called the Buffett of the North, & that expectation is not fair. He is who he is. He invests in the way he knows how. It's obviously not like Buffett or MKL, or LUK. Sometimes when you go from managing medium amounts of money to huge amounts of money you start reaching. We'll only know in hindsight if that's true here. However as an investor, if I am not comfortable, or think it's a too high hurdle to be comfortable with then I pass and go on to others. That's not saying I mistrust him, or think he's lost his edge. It's just that some are not comfortable and some are. Hindsight will tell us who was MORE right.

Gio; Curious if you own any Berkshire? It seems like that would meet most of your criteria without the 7 lean years. Good owner operators, etc. Ron

Gio; It will be in English also? I definitely would like to subscribe. I also subscribe to one other newsletter already mentioned here. Manual of Ideas and their value conferences. They've been great and and I've gotten some very profitable ideas from them. Both in Europe and Japan where I have little expertise. Looking forward to it. :)

Your post mirrors almost exactly my experience with LVLT except I got out a few years earlier.

The thought keeps popping up in my mind of what Buffett said once. Something like when a mediocre business meets good managers (Investors?). The mediocre business usually wins in maintaining its reputation to the detriment of the managers (investors?). Kind of like JCP vs Ackman. BBRY vs Prem to be determined.

He's been waiting all this time and finally decided its now time to buy "LVLT". :o :o :o

Gio!!! I'm amazed. You must be at least 80 to have read that much ;D read separate books with each eye at the same time :o double speed read :P. I know how busy you already are. I'm impressed.

+1! This intiative by Ross is much appreciated! The project has to start at some level/platform. Rome wasn't built in one day. Please also take into consideration, that running this project for Ross takes time away from managing own positions. +1 I always find Ross to be very transparent, helpful, & interesting. This is a great idea.

Two years ago, with a net worth of more than $5m, I couldn't get a loan for $100k. I was trying to purchase a $200k property in Sacramento, a 4-plex with $32,000 gross rental income. The property was fully occupied, the rents were below market. Wells Fargo and Bank of America, plus other local banks. None would bite. They wouldn't loan me under 2% of my net worth! On a property where I was putting 50% cash down in a market that was already crushed in valuation! The loan amount was roughly 3x the gross rent! And then John Stumpf (Wells Fargo CEO) would get on TV and claim they wanted to make loans but there were no creditworthy opportunities. What an unbelievable statement. Their chief excuse was that I didn't have experience as a landlord. I lived a thousand miles away in Seattle and, as I told them, was going to hire a property manager (with experience). Idiocy at its best.. and yet the banks have turned it around and we are buying shares in them? I wonder who is crazy!!! maybe I should be getting rid of my shares in BOA.... Would you loan me lots of money at these rates fixed for 30 years. Or would you rather borrow from the fed at practically nothing and loan it out short term for a better spread? It seems to me that as a shareholder longer term they are doing what is best for me. Plus what gets them to better profits now. When rate go up I can see them starting to loosen.

I live about 90 miles south of San Francisco. Santa Cruz on the north end of Monterey Bay. I don't know about the rental market but single family home prices are back to where they were before the collapse with multiple offers. This cycle happens every 10-15 years here with prices falling 25-40%. Then they come back like now. Just like the stock market I've bought houses every time and waited for prices to recover. For instance a single family 3/2 home that was selling for $850,000-1,000,000.00 dropped to about $625,000.00 $725,000.00. Now back to $825,000.00+.

Sorry. AKA thread. What or where is it? Thanks

What do you mean by sinking? They have obviously sunk off and on but have always come back.

Not bad. Of course you already knew you were going to get asked the question who. I'm guessing Brk & Luk?

Gio; this board member is interested!!! I feel like I'm sitting around a big table with my Many Italian friends drinking chianti, eating a big plate of spaghetti, loud debate going on. Arms and hands waving while points are made. Someone looking in might think there's going to be a fight. But it's always interesting and there are always new things learned. So please don't stop the open forums. If someone doesn't want to read they can just move on. Ron

I live in Ca. Homeowners is Allied. Auto USAA.

A very nice birthday to you.

Does it maybe seem a little better to just concentrate on growing the business ie; Berkshire, Markel, etc rather than hopping around trying to guess the next macro trend?

And that's what makes this a great sounding board. Both thoughts aren't wrong! In the long run both will work. Maybe one a little better than the other but in the greater scheme of things all that matters is a positive outcome. Good discussions here.

Very nice logic.

That was great. Especially the lead in about male (Investors?) problems with aim. Stock picking?

Like I read somewhere from some guy something like this "When the tide goes out you find out who is still wearing swim trunks". The image is one where it might cause some to use that rope. Then someone also said this which with patience might be an alternative. Buy cheap and something good might happen.

I agree!! That's why I ran off. A last gasp of fresh air before the meltdown.

I have 10%+ positions already but I would like to add to these again at those prices. Have already been adding to LRE:XLON. These seem like pretty much no brainer long term positions. I had been taking some profits and building cash lately so this market selloff is nice.

Combining this with another recent thread "Strategies for Patience". I have GTC orders for Fairfax at $345. Markel for $440. Bidvest for $39. Plus I've gone to Maui for a month so I got further away from the noise.

TLDR?