A Glance at 2010

With another year behind us, it's always interesting to guess what the coming year holds. If we aren't beaten down enough from several years of falling real estate prices, we can always turn on the History Channel to find out just when the world is going to end so that we can formulate a plan to have just enough savings to hold us over until then. Soon, I'm sure they'll have the number of days left right on the TV -- just like in the Iran Hostage Crisis (only in reverse order) -- so that we won't have to add them all up on our own.

But then again, what if they're wrong? Then what? We'll wake up the next day only to find out we're broke...and now how are we going to buy that lake place we were thinking of a few years back?

Yes, it's all this constant guessing that keeps life interesting. So I'll make a couple guesses myself.

I'm guessing that the people who bought lake properties last year were pretty smart, because they probably bought at about the bottom of the dip.

I'm guessing that the market isn't going to jump up real fast, but I do think it has begun to turn around.

I'm guessing that there will be a bunch more smart buyers who pick up some really good lake properties at very low prices early this year.

I'm guessing that the stock market will go up, then it will go down, then it will go up, then it will go down again...and so forth.

I'm guessing that it is pretty hard to get more than about 3% interest on a cd these days. And they aren't all that fun to play with.

I'm guessing that if you buy a lake place this year, you will get a lot more enjoyment using it than you will with your cd. And I think it will bring you a better return over time as well.

Oh yeah...one more guess: I'm guessing that you and your cabin will still be around in 2013, as long as you stay in good health and don't get run over by a bus or anything like that.