<p>I don’t understand how he could become an actual CFP that quickly, there are tons of classes, tests & work to get the official CFP designation, plus experience in the field. I assume the article is inaccurate on some detail there.</p>
<p>I recall the late 70s & early 80s, we bought our first house in 1983 in SoCal at 17% interest (:eek:) all because we would never again be able to buy a house there, because prices were going up & up & up. We did not suffer on that first house and actually made money on the 2nd, but paying that interest rate was painful, though I did not realise just how stupid that was until years later with a much lower mortgage rate.</p>
<p>I get the hype, I get the falling for the media induced frenzy, I even remember all the talk in SoCal in the late 70s telling people like my parents that they should leverage their equity and take out $100k, put $10k down on each of 10 rentals, etc. Maybe some one could make money doing that if they were lucky and had great timing and great cash flow, but it never made sense to me. </p>
<p>I will admit to having lost money in real estate in the early 90s (remember that RE market?), but it was losing money we actually had put into the property, not living on HELOCs & 2nds and losing my pride.</p>