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Blog: 66 businesses closing in St. Barths

August 19, 2008

I spent this last Sunday evening catching up with a dear friend and investor Gary. Gary is a young 40’s mega wealthy New England man that has a knack for spotting emerging trends in the highest grade assets including real estate. He has real estate holdings in many parts of the world from apartments, shopping centers, estates, farms and specifically a hotel in St Barts, the ultimately gentile French Island in the Caribbean, that he bought and converted to a personal villa. My wife and I have had the pleasure of being Gary’s guests in St Barts multiple times.

Gary is concerned…. deeply concern. I was sharing with him that it might be a great time to pick up a penthouse in South Beach Miami for 50 % off of last years prices. He related “before this is over you’ll buy the same property for 70% off. Better yet I think you’ll see more attractive assets at “fire sale” prices….forced selling.” He is calling it a “Minsky Moment” (American economist Hyman Minsky)

Gary continued, “ The situation we are faced with could well be the most dangerous in US economic history. With a few things going wrong at the right time we could be faced with a wholesale washout of highest grade assets (as they will be the only ones marketable). This is a mess and sadly we’re counting on the same group ( Fed, Congress, Government, etc) who watched it develop to get us out. This won’t be fixed by politicians who only think in terms of election cycles.”

I asked Gary if there were any signs that the current situation was hurting the wealthiest class of people globally. “Absolutely Ric. I’m putting the St Barts property on the market and hope it sells before winter season.” This property has always been a passion with Gary. “66 business are for sale in the petit downtown area, Dior is closing it’s doors this week, and bookings are dramatically off for season.” St Barts is considered one of the world’s most exclusive places and is frequented by the elite, wealthyand famous.

Not a pretty picture. But we’ll keep you informed on this trend and see if we can’t find a loop hole or two for you to prosper from.

Live well
Ric

Written by alice · Filed Under Latest News 

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