My name is Mark Anderson and I’m the one who launched RuralPropertiesUSA.com. I served honorably on active duty in the United States Marine Corps infantry for one four-year enlistment (i.e. 1995 to 1999), so I know what discipline, hard work, and dedication are. I’m a disciple of the Austrian school of economics, having read authors like Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises for over two decades now.
Presently, I hold Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee real estate licenses. My licenses are active with Realty Hub and The Referral Center. I hold a Mortgage Loan Originator license and can assist you with your financing needs. I also hold an insurance license that contains all major lines of authority: property, casualty, life, and health.
Previously, I held the NFA Series 3 license (futures and futures options broker) which I did a voluntary withdrawal on because I couldn’t in good conscience sell managed futures, which are designed for institutional clients, since firms would do better to hire an in-house trader to trade a proprietary account with a discount broker rather than allocating assets into a managed futures account, which I outlined in my withdrawal request. I’m proud to say that I never bagged a single client for MF Global because if I had bagged a client it would have been for MF Global, since I was hired by MF Global through a Guaranteed Introducing Broker.
Shortly after departing MF Global, MF Global collapsed and its customers had trading accounts that were inaccessible. Why? MF Global failed to segregate client funds from their own proprietary trading accounts, losing client funds in the process. Amazingly, nobody went to jail. I learned something about myself in the process of leaving MF Global. If I don’t believe in something, I can’t sell something. I want to know that what I’m offering a client is in that client’s best interests.
Having held the Series 3 license, my expertise is in helping companies and individual clients develop strategies to hedge against economic uncertainty. On a peripheral note, I’m very familiar with real estate futures contracts and their use in hedging in the real estate market. I’ve done original work explaining how inflation drives up prices while driving down rates of return (in both nominal and real terms), how inflation undermines earnings and income generating activity, engendering capital outflow as capital naturally gravitates to cheaper, higher-yield economies through arbitrage. I’ve written many commentaries that have been carried by major publications.
I start with the axiom that there’s a difference between trading and investing. A trader buys and sells assets based on nominal price movements (e.g. housing or equity prices). An investor buys and holds an asset for the income the asset generates (e.g. rents or earnings–>dividends). My strategy is to generate income (i.e. invest), not speculate on asset prices (i.e. trade). Albeit, having held the Series 3 license, I’m able to assist clients with hedging through the futures market.
The biggest risk comes from currency depreciation pursuant to FOMC policy. Miniscule rate hikes in juxtaposition with loose monetary policy doesn’t prompt bullishness on the dollar. At 0% nominal rates, the Fed had but one tool to manipulate real rates downwards in favor of the biggest sub-prime borrower of all, i.e. the government in Washington: balloon its balance sheet.
Any miniscule rate hikes are most likely calculated to give the Fed room to lower rates the moment the market correction begins. This is why I do not advocate staying long dollars and short hard assets as a matter of practice. While capital gains are preferable to capital losses, it’s paramount to not conflate rising prices with rising earnings and rising rates of return (i.e. economic growth). Loose monetary policy has made almost the entire U.S. economy a negative real rate of return economy. Pursuant to the CPI’s method, inflation is grossly underestimated. Inflation engenders pseudo rates of return and causes firms to overestimate profits, precipitating malinvestment. Properly accounting for inflation is paramount.
I believe every portfolio should have exposure to real estate as one of the safest and most productive hedges against inflation. I believe in allocating assets pursuant to a national strategy, and taking a holistic approach to valuing assets to discover nationwide arbitrage opportunities. I believe arbitrage encompasses much more economic activity than many traders even realize. It’s about more than exploiting exchange rate differences. Capital naturally gravitates to cheaper, higher-yield economies through arbitrage. If one market is comparatively cheaper, and delivers higher rates of return, in the abstract, it would make sense to buy in the cheaper market rather than the more expensive market.
Especially as inflation continues to undermine income generating activity, this will compel asset owners to seek creative ways to capture equity, by continually purging non producing assets in more expensive markets while acquiring producing assets in cheaper markets (i.e. dynamic asset allocation).
My goal is to work in a capacity where I can help clients allocate assets in such a way that maximizes returns while minimizing risk. I am very familiar with calculating GOI, NOI, taxable income, and ROI on real estate, as well as real estate valuation through things like price to rent ratios. If you are looking for somebody to help you as an individual or your company and its clients maximize returns while minimizing risk with a national and dynamic investment strategy, then look no further.
Understanding the threat from inflation, I believe real estate is an important component to any portfolio. That’s a huge reason I made the decision to become a real estate professional. I get great satisfaction from knowing that I am helping others.