With real estate prices continuing their downward trajectory and no end in sight, most Americans, even those who would love a new home, are shying away from the housing market. For the most part, this makes sense, especially considering that housing may fall another 20% to 30% from here. We certainly wouldn’t recommend jumping into a new traditional home ‘investment’ right now, especially if you have to take on a new mortgage to get it, and especially if it is in any major cities. There’s really no significant upside to the deal. Not only will you end up losing on the investment side, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of real estate is, contrary to popular belief, not an investment, but rather, a liability. A home in the suburbs or a condo in the inner city has no productive capacity – which means you’ll never really get anything out of it unless you buy at the very bottom of an unpredictable collapsing bubble. But for the right family, the right property may prove to be a great investment at this time, even if you have to borrow to buy it. It’s true that mortgage rates are at historic lows. And, with the real estate market in shambles, more land owners than ever before are willing to owner finance a deal, making it possible for those with not-exactly-great-credit or a huge down payment to have their own piece of paradise while also avoiding the banking system in general.

In the article below, Eric Peters provides several compelling reasons for why buying land, physical land, is the ultimate hedge against crisis – be it economic or otherwise. Unlike suburban properties, acreage outside of a major city can serve a multitude of purposes, including giving you the ability to produce your own food and the obvious protection provided from the possibility of rioting and civil unrest which is sure to hit the streets of America’s major cities in months and years to come. Even though the value (priced in dollars) of physical land may not be immune to what’s headed our way, the real value comes from its ability to actually produce something, rather than suck up more of your wealth like traditional real estate investments. There’s a reason that billionaires, hedge funds, and even sovereign wealth funds of entire nations are investing in farmland. They understand the trend, which is progressively rising food and energy costs. Find a good piece of land and you can completely eliminate these costs for the long-term, and create a truly self sufficient investment that never stops producing....