| Dear ETR reader, If you want to build a fortune, you simply can’t ignore the unbeatable track record of real estate. Property ownership is the single greatest source of long-term wealth in the United States. But with property prices going through the roof, average investors are finding it riskier and more difficult to invest. But what if you could partner up with some of the largest private landholders in the United States with as little as $30? What if you could take ownership of the most valuable undeveloped land in America – for less than $200 an acre? My colleague Dan Ferris has identified what I believe to be one of the best low-risk, high-reward opportunities in the world today. Every month Dan uncovers some of the safest investments in the market – at prices too cheap to pass up. He recently spent more than six months researching a way to invest in primetime real estate at drastically discounted prices. Here is some of what he uncovered:
These are some of the greatest real estate opportunities I’ve ever seen. But the loophole to take advantage of these discount real estate plays will not be open forever, so, check it outright away if this interests you. Read below to learn all about it... Best regards, Will Bonner
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Market Loophole Dear Reader, Travel 60 miles north of Los Angeles on I-5. There, on the fringe of this ever-expanding metropolis, lies an enormous ranch... It's an incredible piece of property for several reasons. For one, it�s beautiful land. A New York Herald correspondent called it �the most magnificent estate in America.� That was more than 100 years ago. Not much has changed since then, except the property has gotten a lot more valuable. How big can a ranch be? It�s 270,000 contiguous acres -- 420 square miles. Bigger than the entire city of Los Angeles. What�s so valuable about this piece of property? Three things. First, Interstate-5, the major north-south artery on the west coast, borders the property for 16 miles. More than 60,000 cars a day pass through this territory. It�s within a 5-hour drive of every major city in California and even closer to Las Vegas. Already IKEA, the giant Swedish home furnishings retailer, has built a 1,460-acre warehouse complex here. Second, this land is also the perfect setting for residential development. In fact, there�s a new town springing up right now, called Centennial, complete with ranch estates and luxury homes, as well as top-notch golf courses� The third reason this land is so valuable? Water. The California Aqueduct cuts this property in half. In exchange for using its property, the ranch gets extensive water rights. You won�t be surprised to learn that in the last ten years the owners of this property have made three times their investment. But here�s the good news� You can buy this property today, starting with as little as $27. Incredibly, because of a unique stock market loophole, you�ll be paying the equivalent of only about $221 per acre. Over the next few years, you could sell this land for many, many times your original stake today. Keep in mind that when IKEA bought nearby, they paid $2 million for 80 acres. That�s $25,000 an acre. Even by conservative estimates, this land is worth at least 12 times its current market price. Best of all, you can buy this land on the stock market, through any regular broker. No real estate agent required. No mortgage. No yearly taxes. No problem liquidating when it�s time to sell. You get 12-times-your-money upside potential, and almost no downside risk. This is clearly one of the best investment opportunities in the United States right now. If this idea interests you, I�ll show you how to take advantage of it right away. How Is This Possible, You�re Probably Wondering? How is it possible to buy land worth $25,000 an acre or more� for as little as $221? The short explanation is simple. Over the past year, I�ve found a handful of publicly traded firms in the U.S. (I�ve identified 6 in all) that purchased HUGE tracts of land as far back as 150 years ago. These companies still carry this land on their books at the original cost (as little as $2 an acre). Why is the land so cheap? In a word, accounting. Real estate is carried on public companies� balance sheets at its �acquisition cost.� In other words, this land remains on the books -- and on the companies' accounting forms filed with the U.S. Federal Government -- at the same price, forever and ever, no matter how much it increases in value in the real world. Today, these 6 businesses are some of the largest private landholders in the United States. One of the companies, for example, owns more land than anyone else in Florida -- more than 1 million acres. Another company is the largest private landowner in Texas, with its own portfolio of more than a million acres. A third company is the second-largest landowner in California. Still another is one of the largest Hawaiian landowners, with more than 90,000 acres. Most analysts and investors don�t realize the value of all this land because you have to do an incredible amount of digging to find out what it�s really worth. As these companies develop and sell this land over the course of the next decade, people who invest today could see $10,000 grow into as much as a half million dollars or more. All we have to do to capitalize on these deals is buy shares in these companies� and watch the situation unfold. It really is that simple. But the odds are, you're not going to hear about this opportunity anywhere else, because it takes an awful lot of work to uncover. In all my years as an independent equities analyst, this is the best long-term investment I�ve ever seen. If you�re skeptical that land carried on the books at $200 an acre can ever be valued at $1 million or more, I don�t blame you. I realize that it sounds too good to be true. But I�ve looked into it by physically inspecting the properties, and by looking at tax records and recent real estate transactions. In fact, I flew to Hawaii to have a look at one of these situations first hand� The Best Land In Hawaii: $150 An Acre Have you ever seen one of those great big container ships -- the ones that carry cargo across the ocean -- with the word MATSON printed on the side? Matson has served Hawaii for over 100 years and operates about 182 voyages per year -- 75% more than its top competitor, CSX. Matson�s business, while not officially a monopoly, is like owning a tollbooth in the Pacific Ocean. This is a pretty good business, netting nearly $100 million in profits per year. Not many people know this, but Matson isn�t an independent company. It�s a subsidiary of a long-established Hawaiian holding company founded in 1870. It has a market cap of about $1 billion, and pays a 4% dividend. This is the kind of stock you might recommend to your grandmother. But it�s not something you�d expect to make a lot of money with� right? Well� I recently made a very interesting discovery, concerning this company�s real estate holdings. And I went to Hawaii to have a closer look. What 99.9% of investors don�t realize about this company is that it is also one of Hawaii�s largest landowners. The folks on Wall Street miss the value of these land holdings because they were originally put on the company�s books way back in 1870 -- when the company purchased the land for an average of $150 per acre. This company owns more than 90,000 acres of prime Hawaiian land, including a huge plantation on Maui (37,000 acres) and another large plantation on Kauai (21,892 acres). I went to Hawaii to have a look at this property in person, and to produce a realistic fair value of it. Land parcels vary widely in price depending, of course, on location. But you can determine an average land price pretty easily by looking closely at recent sales and tax records. I toured the Maui plantation with a company vice president and saw the Kauai property too. I also went to the state and county property tax office, where I inspected 242 property transactions. Here Are The Results� Recently a sugar plantation in Hawaii went up for sale. Developer Peter Savio bought 5,000 acres for $49 million, or $9,423 an acre. This estimate ignores the higher value of land in Maui and Kauai, but for our purposes, that�s fine. I�m trying to find the lowest possible price to give you the most conservative estimate of the value of this land. Furthermore, just to be very conservative, let�s assume that only about 2/3rds of this company�s land is suitable for development. That leaves plenty of space for conservation, roads, drainage, etc. Even with these conservative estimates, the land holdings are worth at least $550 million. Granted, this is an absurdly low estimate. But even this estimate, if added to the current value of the stock, would grant investors a 50% return on their money. What�s a more realistic assumption of the real market value of the property? In Hawaii the average tax assessment for unimproved residential parcels -- empty land -- is $80,000 per acre. If 2/3rds of the holding company�s land could be sold for this price, it would be worth $5 billion more than its current accounts show. KEEP THIS IN MIND: Not many people know about this investment. Officially, according to the company�s books, the land it owns is worth only $104.1 million. Most investors (including the average Wall Street analyst) overlook companies such as this because they don�t look like a good deal when you look at the original value of the land. But remember, these values were assigned way back in the middle of the 1800s! Obviously, this land is worth a heck of a lot more today than it was back then. TO SUMMARIZE: This is the greatest real estate investment opportunity I�ve ever seen. You can buy and hold this land for as long as you live, simply by purchasing an ordinary stock. This method of owning real estate through public companies is how some of America�s richest families own land. Let me show you what I mean� How the DuPonts and Other Wealthy Families Own Real Estate This method of owning real estate through a public company is how many of America�s wealthiest families organize their finances. The DuPonts, for example, still own real estate in Florida through a public company. So do the Hill-Griffins (for whom the University of Florida football stadium is named). The Newhall family (who own 51,620 acres of California 30 miles north of Los Angeles), are conducting business the same way out West. If it�s good enough for them, it�s good enough for you and me. Keep in mind that real estate is the single biggest source of long-term wealth in the United States. On the Forbes Magazine list of America�s 400 wealthiest individuals, real estate outnumbers every other source of income, by a long shot. Owning property through a public corporation is the only real estate investment I know of that can realistically be expected to return 10-20 times your initial investment over the next decade. Barring an economic collapse, there�s almost no way you can lose money. I recommend you use this land just as these wealthy families do--as long-term investments. It works. Look at the numbers� Since June of 1999, these real estate investments have produced gains of 47%� 79%� 115%� and as much as 159%. Meanwhile, the DOW Jones Industrial average is down 39%. The S&P 500 is down 13%�and the NASDAQ is down 30%, in the exact same period. OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, THE NUMBERS LOOK EVEN BETTER: One of these investments has beaten the S&P 500 (which is up a respectable 145%) by 38%. Another has outpaced the S&P 500 over the past 10 years by 103%� still another has beaten the stock market average by 400%. When you look back at your investing career, this could very well turn out to be the single best investment you ever make. And this kind of investment, as I�ll show you, is easy� and straightforward. You don�t have to be a Rockefeller, a DuPont, or a Vanderbilt. All you need to start investing is about $50, and the right information� which I�ll detail now� This Is Only The Beginning� After about a year of research, I�ve identified four more companies around the United States with situations similar to the two I just described (in Hawaii and Southern California).
You can take ownership of the best and most valuable undeveloped land in America� simply by becoming a shareholder in any one of these companies! Does this Investment Make Sense for You? That, obviously, is impossible for me to say. And of course, no investment is completely without risk. But in my opinion, this is the best low-risk, high-reward opportunity in the world. When I look around at what�s going on in the world of investing right now� recommending this investment is a pretty easy decision for me to make. The stock market as a whole is risky and overpriced. Regular real estate has already skyrocketed in price. What�s left? Bonds? They�re even riskier than stocks right now. The bank? Your 1.5% interest rate won�t even keep up with inflation. Investing in real estate through these six public companies is the safest, most profitable investment I�ve seen in the past year. There are a few other things I like about this investment strategy� 1) THERE�S NO DANGER OF COOKING THE BOOKS. An acre of land is a real, tangible asset. You can see it. You can touch it. You can even stand on it. An acre is 43,560 square feet, no matter where you go. And you can put a real value on this land by using the two methods that have been used for hundreds of years to value real estate: 1) tax records and 2) sales of similar properties. 2) THE LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS FOR REAL ESTATE ARE OUTSTANDING. Rent levels and housing prices have doubled in the past 20 years, between 1980 and 2000. The same thing happened during the prior 20 years, between 1960 and 1980. And the same thing happened between 1940 and 1960. We have every reason to believe the same thing will happen over the next two decades. Look at the facts�
I meet people all the time who say: "I should have bought property years ago. I�ve missed out." Well, regret never made anyone rich. Now is a great time to invest in good real estate. And when you consider that you can buy it at 19th-century prices� well� to me, that�s too good to pass up. But you don�t need numbers or statistics to identify this truth. Look at where you live now. Is real estate more expensive than it was 15 years ago? Most likely. 25 years ago? Sure. 200 years ago? Definitely. The story is the same virtually all over the world. If you want to build wealth, you simply cannot ignore this kind of track record. Why
Invest Now? While this is not the kind of investment you should rush into, I recommend you consider it sooner rather than later. Why? Several reasons. First, many of these companies, which have been sitting on this land for more than a hundred years, are now moving quickly to develop and sell some of their holdings. As you almost certainly know, real estate prices have skyrocketed in recent years. These companies are taking advantage of this real estate bull market. One of the companies in California, for example, is building a huge industrial park (on as many as 1,400 acres)� and a new residential community with 11,000 homes. It�s no wonder The Los Angeles Times recently called this company "a sleeping giant waking up." Another one of these land companies in Florida recently hired an executive from Walt Disney -- who used to run their land development division. This guy is now pursuing an aggressive development strategy for the next five years. My point is, you�re going to see these companies make a lot of moves in the next few years. But the most important reason to buy now is simple: The price. I don�t believe you�ll ever again have the opportunity to buy top quality land so cheap. These investments, as I mentioned, have gone up 133%� 115%� 159%� just in the past five years. It�s not going to take the world long to figure out what these companies are doing, and that this land is a much better investment than the next biotech company� or dot-com start-up. Prices are so utterly dirt-cheap that it�s really impossible for them to stay this way for long. How to Profit From the Biggest Secret In the Real Estate Business -- Beginning Today With this unusual opportunity I�ve uncovered, you can get all the benefits of real estate, without the typical hassles and expenses. And you get to buy real estate that you KNOW has already increased significantly in value. If you are interested in capitalizing on this opportunity, I recommend you subscribe to my investment advisory service, called Extreme Value. When you do, I will send you my full investigative, 44-page research analysis, called The World�s Most Desirable Land At A 99% Discount. IT INCLUDES: A 44-page explanation of the 6 companies I�ve mentioned here. This research details 1) where these companies own land (using aerial maps and photographs); 2) what this land is currently worth; 3) what else these companies are involved with, and 4) which of these businesses offer the most promising returns with the best cash dividends. Most importantly, I�ll explain WHICH COMPANIES TO BUY RIGHT NOW. This research has taken me the better part of six months to complete. Again, this 44-page report is FREE when you subscribe to my Extreme Value investment advisory. How the 2nd Richest Man in the World Made his Fortune Let me tell you a little more about how Extreme Value works, so you can decide if it makes sense for you. Each month, we look for at least one stock that is so cheap, compared to what the company�s owns, that it is almost impossible to lose money by investing in it. Here�s what I mean by that. Let�s say we find a company that is selling for $5 a share, and there are 1 million shares� so the company is worth $5 million. Let�s say the company has $800,000 in cash and $500,000 worth of other assets including buildings, equipment, and land. Well, even if this company stopped operating tomorrow� and went bankrupt, you�d still make money as an investor if the company closed up shop, sold off the assets, and divided up the profits among shareholders. This is the kind of margin of safety we look for in Extreme Value. You see, there are tremendous values out there if you take the time to look hard enough. 99% of companies don�t pass our critical tests for good value� but when we find a good business that does, the results are amazing. In fact, this method of extreme value investing is what made Warren Buffett the second richest man in the world. And a 27-year independent study at the University of Chicago proved that these stocks outperformed all other stocks by an average of 167% per year! I call these super-safe and super-cheap companies Extreme Value stocks. And, as you may have guessed, my Extreme Value advisory is dedicated exclusively to finding them. With every stock we pick, we go to great lengths to make sure your investment comes with a generous margin of safety. A margin of safety simply means that, if the worst happened, and these companies went out of business, you could still expect to gain. Our emphasis is on the value of the enterprise, and the price we're paying for it. We carefully choose the businesses we want to invest in, and buy them at extremely low prices. Buying and selling are simple for Extreme Value investors. We buy stocks when they are cheap and safe. We sell stocks when they get expensive, or become unsafe. For example, one company that�s been in my portfolio from the very beginning is a catalog company called Blair. If you want to look up the symbol, it�s "BL" on the American Stock Exchange. It�s still, by the way, a very good buy. Blair has a 90-year history of profits, without a single annual loss. It�s still managed by the founding family and pays a solid dividend. Even if this company went out of business tomorrow (which it won�t, because business is booming) we�d still stand to collect 25% profits, because the company�s cash and assets are worth more than the business�s value in the stock market. So far, we�re up 37%� with a long way to go. Let me tell you about some other companies I�ve found recently for our Extreme Value portfolio�
Every month, I strive to find companies and investment opportunities just like these -- stocks that are trading for much less than the price of their cash and other important assets. It�s the best way to make the very good returns in the market over the long run. If you don�t believe me, ask Warren Buffet (who�s become the second richest man in the world using this strategy)� or take a look at this study by the Leuthold Group, a 30-year-old investment research firm� CLICK HERE TO READ ON...
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