Thanks for the post.
The whole time I was reading the article I was being distracted by memories of the various builders and real estate investors that we sub-contracted under in '04 and '05. There were so many who were drive by builders who looked like they had the world by the tail. I was working like a dog and saving and reinvesting while many others were making money hand over fist without digging so much as a hole. Contractors would call me and say, "Hey JT, we're expecting bad weather. Would you go down and safe off my windows and doors, tie down the port-a-let and cover my dumpsters?" I had other contractors holler at me, "Hey Johnny Boy, my plumber's coming by the job today, would you walk him through and mark it out with him?" or "Hey JT, I have a framing final today. Would you and your guys run through and punch the job out before the inspector gets there?"
Ask anybody who knows me and they'll tell you that in '04, '05 and '06 I carried a backpack with rye bread, water and tomatoes every single day. They'd say, " Still on bread and water huh? Come to lunch with us. " I told them over and over that it was not a diet of the body. It was a diet to harden the mind and character. They'd look at me like a sucker when I told them we were all getting soft.
Meanwhile, we were performing on our credit lines flawlessly and putting down payments of 40% to 100% when we would start our own projects. The whole attitude of people throwing huge fat at their budgets without a care made me sick to my stomach at the time. Now that my lender's are making the bad bank lists because these know-it-all's defaulted on leveraged real estate loans I want to put those no work, new truck, smiler's in a deep hole. I'll dig the hole myself with my calloused hands.