REI Wealth Monthly Issue 05 | Page 59

WHAT DR.J TAUGHT ME ABOUT REAL ESTATE DENNIS DUNCAN my hands. For the first time in all these years, I laid hands on my collection once again; a certain sense of nostalgia overcame me. This didn’t last long, since when I returned back to Los Angeles, I simply let the bag rest on my desk for a couple of weeks. One day however, I got bored and decided to see what each of those cards were worth. Some were worth $10, others $20, and a few were even in the $40 range. But how much was my first card worth? That of Dr. J? An astonishing $175… for a piece of cardboard. And there are some cards out there which are worth even more than that, in some cases tens of thousands of dollars. So what precisely, made it so expensive? Well, I noticed there was a misprint as to the position Dr. J played, as he was listed as a for- ward on the front of the card but as a center on the back. Misprint means big money and highly collectible. What Will I do with It? Well, for one I’m definitely not going to sell it… at this point, it holds a certain sentimental value which cannot be compensated for with money (unless it’s a whole lot of money). I’m going to hold on it to it and stash it in my beloved memory lane, and keep it there until the end of my life, or until it’s worth millions of dollars… whichever comes first. What Dr. J Taught Me About Real Estate? So what exactly did I learn from this little adventure? Well, a few things: • Better to invest your time and money into what you know and like. • Make sure to have a completely trustworthy partner who can help you keep an eye on your investments – like my brother keeping my cards in storage all these years. • It’s sometimes possible to get pretty good returns on blind investments (although I wouldn’t base my whole strategy around them). • Last, but not least, when you buy something, hold on to it; it’s value may end up greatly exceeding what you paid for it. As final parting thoughts, considering I spent 40 cents as a child on my card. How much money do you think I would make if I sold it (which I probably never will) for $175 in today’s money?