As I said, the economy was terrible at that time. For investors, this is the perfect market condition.
我刚才说过,那时候经济很不景气,而对于投资者来说,这却是一个绝好的市场良机。
A chunk of my money was in the stock market and in apartment houses. I was short of cash.
我把一大笔钱投资于股票和房地产市场,所以手头缺少现金。
Because everyone was giving stuff away, I was buying. I was not saving money. I was investing.
每个人都在卖出,而我在买入。我不是在省钱,而是在投资。
My wife and I had more than a million dollars in cash working in a market that was rising fast.
我妻子和我把100多万美元的现金投在了必将迅速上升的市场里。
It was the best opportunity to invest. The economy was terrible.
我们相信这是最好的投资机会。市场不景气。
I just could not pass up these small deals.
我一定不能错过任何一次细小的投资机会。
Houses that were once $100,000 were now $75,000.
原来价值10万美元的房子现在只值7.5万美元。
But instead of shopping with local real estate office, I began shopping at the bankruptcy attorney's office, or the courthouse steps.
但我没有去本地的房地产公司买进这些房地产,而是去破产事务律师办公室,或是去法院洽谈业务。
In these shopping places, a $75,000 house could sometimes be bought for $20,000 or less.
在这些进行房屋买卖的地方,一幢7.5万美元的房子有时可以按2万美元或更低的价格买下。
For $2,000, which was loaned to me from a friend for 90 days for $200, I gave an attorney a cashier's check as a down payment.
首先,我以现金支票的形式支付给律师2000美元定金,这是我向朋友借的,借期90天、利息200美元。
While the acquisition was being processed, I ran an ad paper advertising a $75,000 house for only $60,000 and no money down. The phone rang hard and heavy.
当购买程序一启动,我就在报纸上刊登售房广告,以6万美元、首付为零的条件,出售这幢价值为7.5万美元的房子。我的电话铃很快就响个不停。
Prospective buyers were screened and once the property was legally mine, all the prospective buyers were allowed to look at the house.
我对有希望成交的买主一一进行了调查和筛选,然后,当房屋在法律上归我所有后,我就邀请所有有望成交的买主去实地看房。
It was a feeding frenzy. The house sold in a few minutes.
交易非常火暴,房子在几分钟之内就售出了。
I asked for a $2,500 processing fee, which they gladly handed over, and the escrow and title company took over from there.
我要求买主支付2500美元的手续费,他很高兴地支付了。之后就由契约和产权调查公司接手了。
I returned the $2,000 to my friend with an additional $200.
我把2000美元和200美元的利息还给了我的朋友。
He was happy, the home buyer was happy, the attorney was happy, and I was happy.
他很高兴、房屋的买主很高兴、律师很高兴,而我,当然更高兴。
I sold a house for $60,000 that cost me $20,000.
我用2万美元的成本买了一幢房子,又以6万美元的价格卖出去。
The $40,000 was created from money in my asset column in the form of a promissory note from the buyer. Total working time: five hours.
净赚的4万美元以买主开出的承兑汇票的形式流入我的资产项。所有的工作时间累计起来只有5个小时。