[Work4Fish420]

I'm a realtor and land in Florida has come down about 30-40% in a lot of areas. It's definately a buyers' market now, and people are giving away some of these quarter acre buildable lots that the builders and investors have been flipping to build homes on. There is way too much inventory now which is why prices have come down, and not much been selling the past year, but starting to pick up a bit end of summer. There are signs of a bottom nearby. These 1/4 lots that are, for example, back down to $35k in Palm Bay, FL.....ran up from about $16k 3-4 years ago to up 55-60k ...just from 2004-2005. I don't think they are going back to $16k based on surrounding areas, and since that area is just a year or two behind where I live in Port St. Lucie (lots are $75k here and were up to $100+ last year), I have a feeling the lots 45 minuntes north which are 35-40k can run to 70-75k when the buyers return. I think if you can bottom fish in some hot areas, I'd put some money into some of these lots. I know...it's not a guaranteed 5%, but in a hot market these lots move anywhere from 50-100% in a year, and you can mortgage them with 20-25% down to increase your ROI%. I really don't expect the market to go crazy like before, but I can easily see these going up 10-20% (which is a conservative estimate) compiled over 3-5 years that could be a good return. Rental property may also be something to look in, but I've never really cared too much for that as vacant land is less headaches.

Besides Florida, which ran up a bit too fast and now correcting, I am going to start looking into other markets like the Carolinas and Texas.

But....if you really want to play it safe, I'd be sticking with the CDs and municipal bonds. Liquid CDs are probably the best since you can withdraw whenver. In these time, cash is truly KING. If you're into stocks, check out the homebuilders like DHI, LEN, CTX, maybe KBH. These are the biggest in the business and had a good run before they started tanking. PEs are down to 4 and change so unless they go belly-up they should be flooring around here. SOon as market turns around and they get inventory problems under control (which they are)....these should be one of the better stocks again.