Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    Buying a condo with the expectation of making money is a little bit
    risky. Why?  Well I've always said that the condo's of today are the
    slums of tomorrow (generally speaking that is.) I said this 5 years
    ago and 10 years ago...and 80% of those condo are slums today. There
    are exceptions to the rule when you look at high price condo in
    exclusive areas; yet the reason for these condo holding or increasing
    their cvalue is because of clientel and/or location not because of
    it being a condo/good investment.
    If, and I repeat IF, I were to sell DEC stock, I wouldn't be putting
    it into a condo. Today, Most condos are fairly cheap so you shouldn't
    have much downside risk on your equity..but getting rentors, the right
    kind of rentors, is a problem. Keeping them is another problem. making
    sure they pay their rents is another problem. Then there is the upkeep,
    the taxes, the phone calls, and the condo fees. Is it all worth it? I
    personally don;t think so. If I were to sell DEC stock, I would
    simply invest in a low prices/undervalued stock with a dividend, like
    FIrst Union Real Estate Trust. It is about 11.00 per share and pays a
    0.72 dividend. That's about 6.5% dividend yield with a good potential
    for capital growth. No phone calls, no headaches, no rentors.
    
    							good luck, Mark

    Re: Mark
     
    What about buying duplex/house?  Is that hold up the value?  Should I 
    hold on my DEC stock or sale them, then buy with some low value like 
    your advised in the last reply.
    
    Thanks Mark 

    Your real estate questions are best asked in TALLIS::REAL_ESTATE, and
    your Digital questions are best asked in NYOSS1::DIGITAL_INVESTING.
    Still, I can offer some thoughts.
    
    A couple years ago my wife had a condo she rented to some reliable
    people, and she was not able to even cover her mortgage payments
    with the rent payments.  Furthermore the people did some damage to the
    place that cost us a fair amount of money to repair.  My opinion is
    that renting out property is a LOT of work, but ask in TALLIS::REAL_ESTATE.
    
    As far as Digital goes, my indicators say the price should peak
    sometime near February 14, 1994.  If I were in your position I would
    wait until then to sell.  There are many other opinions you can read
    in NYOSS1::DIGITAL_INVESTING, then decide.
    
    As noted earlier, there are many other investments besides DEC and
    real estate.  Why are you limiting yourself to only those two?
    
      John

> Should I hold on my DEC stock ...

	Personally I'd say hold on to it (that's what I'm doing).  Remember
	to always consider stock a long term investment.  The stock may
	be low now, but chances are in the long run it should rebound
	(if we don't go under first :-))

    I think the last time I saw Value Line DEC was a 3/3 with a target of
    65 in 3 years. [3 for timeliness and 3 for safety]

    
    IMHO, DEC stock is NOT a long term investment; it is only a trading
    stock.  +Dennis

    for .2,  A duplex/house is a good investment (generally speaking) at
    this time, but put as little down and finace as much as possible.
    Today's market is CHEAP money. Once again though, location is still
    a factor. 
    As far a DEC stock goes, I guess I'd hold onto it. My gut tells me that
    it should go up, but I always ask myself the question.....If I had
    $10,000 to invest, would I invest in DEC? The answer is , HELL no!>
    There are too many really good stocks, funds, bonds, etc. out there
    that would return more and cause me to sleep better than investing in
    DEC. Hold onto it if you can not find anything better. If you can find
    something better, don't hestitate.
    
    I use to own a lot of DEC but once I got over the emotional - employee
    thing, I realize how stupid I really was. Now I'd only buy it as a
    trader would; get in low and get out after a few point rise. Cheers,
    Mark

    So, it seems like I'll hold on my stock for another year or so to see
    if there is any changes?  Thanks for all your advises.
                           

    If you make a pile of money between now and the end of the calendar
    year then sell your 'older' DEC stock and take advantage of the loss as
    an offset.