Are the baby boomers leaving Macross collecting?

[RosarioLuv]

Baby boomers is the generation of people that were born between 1946-1964.  The last of which were into their 20's and probably too old to watch afternoon cartoons in 1984.

I think you're thinking about the Gen X'rs... People that were born between 1965 and 1975... Who grew up in the 80's... also known as the slacker generation...

Yeah, I think he means GenX'ers.

BUT, it was the babyboomer generation that created these wonderful storylines and (original) toys for us succeeding generations. The babyboomers were a generation of poets and profits. A lost era...

btw, I always thought I was a GenX'er. But if 1975 is the cutoff, and I'm born after that, does that mean I'm an MTVgen? I didn't really grow up in the 80's persay, but more the 85-95's, if that makes any sense. My first car, btw, was a 1986 Honda Civic Hatchback....and it was 1993 when I got it.

Edited August 10, 2004 by redemption

[EXO]

Well since the labels are based on the birthrates and the birthrates went back up in 1976-81, that generation is sometimes called Gen Y. Gen X is categorized based on the low birth rates between 1965-1975.

[LORD KUNGFU]

Ok, here we go. Real estate overall is the best investment. Here in cali, house values are going up about 10k a month. No joke, my family is in real estate. So I speak no lies or heresay, but what is true or what actually works for me. We have clients that are buying houses now, and dont even live in them or rent them out. You figure if there spending $2,500 a month on a mortage, but the value of there house increases $10k every month, they are gaining equity of $7,500 amonth with out doing anyting but paying the mortage. I would do real estate investing, but I just cant come up with a large enough sum of money for a down payment on houses going for $400,000k. And I have unstated income, and banks dont like that. So on with the toys.

Yes you can put your money elsware, bonds or stocks. I personally prefer to enjoy my investmet every once in a while. I like to pull my valkyries off the shelf once in a while and goof with them, or mod them. I can spend hours just staring at box art work and look at catalogs, and they even inspire me. Never have I once drove to the bank so I can stare at my bond certificate, and fly it around and paint panel lines on it. The main issue with collecting toys as an investment or just collecting would be the space factor. My fiance is not to happy with my collecting, UMMM, I mean investing. Since we cant use our garage ect....of course spending money on storage is out of the question.

Now living proof......I jumped in on the hot stock market back in 2000 or so. I was investing money in options, so I could invest as little as possible and make the most back. I really sucked at options and los tall my money. Mostly because all my info was coming from CNBC and they suck and totally lie. I think stock options are good, but you got to know your sh*t. Anyhow, at the same time, I was buying tons of toys, just because I like toys, and for investing too, and I just simply had the expendable income. I bought godaikins, transformers, anything I could get a bulk deal on. Especially on ebay, where I would find lots at good prices. Believe it or not. SIde not, one thing I like about collecting in mass, is that you totally forget what you have. And a few years later your digging through you mountains of boxes because your curious whats in them, and its like Christmas again, finding that mint in box diecast voltron you bought on clearance at toys r us 4 years ago. All my coworkers were buying new cars, stereos, clothes. All the trendy stuff that aint worth jack once its out of style(beanie babies). They thought it was funny though when I would come to work to show off my box of old transformers that I just bought at the swap meet for $10. Little did they realize that stuff in the box was worth $500. A few weeks later they started to get jealouse, cuz my paypal account was getting huge, while these guys were broke every month. And of course what happens next, we all get laid off. Everyone in I.T. gets laid off. Everyone was so sad, but I was happy as hell. I didnt like the job and I sick of driving in Los Angeles traffic. Anyway, I banked up about $15k in paypal in a matter of months. Also, managed to accumalate sever thousand dollars worth of toys. NOw I didnt spent several thousand to get the toys, but that was the street value. I believe I got laid off around 2001, so I was able to live off my toys until now. I havent worked since. I did get a good chunk of change for severance too though. My fiance and her dont like the fact that I dont work, and have not worked for some years. Its just funny. My neighbors always wondering what the hell I do for aliving. I can actually live quite comfortable of what I accumalted in that short time span. So I would be able to not hold a job for a few more years. Actually, I have worked, but I always quit. It nice to know at your job that you can quit when you want and dont have to take anybody sh*t. NOw, I dont live like a king, but IM happy, and what really funny is when you dont need a job or money, it just comes to you. Funny how that works.

My point is that what investment can you make where you can take $10 and turn if around for $500. None. Now I admit a lot of that was luck. I have spent several days finding nothing. There just something about the treasure hunt. All my investing was not in vintage, or good scores at the swap meet. I bought new toys too. Just buy them when they are on clearance. How many times have you said to yourself you wish you bought something at $50, because now it going for $80 and you want it. And then it goes for $100 just a week later. It happens all the time, I cant tell you how many times I see that on this forum. And whats flooding the market now and nobody wants, well, trust me when they cant have it, they will want it. So like the macross stuff now is cheaper, but once toynami goes out of buisness or slow down, all of a sudden, everyone genna want those bandai reissues. I like being able to walk into stores and throw down a grand at one time on power rangers. It just kills, the look on the check out persons face when you roll up with three carts full of toys and you pay cash. Word of advice, dont buy using credit. The interest kills. At least if you pay cash, and you have to sit on your investment for a while, your not paying inerest. But most of all, I invest in toys this way.....if i were to buy something, but it was not worth it moneywise, would I till want it. So if you buy something, and it was not a good score, it would still be cool for me to own, and have it take up space in my house. I found that when I buy stuff just because its cool, or I am interested in it, it seems to be worth a lot of money to someone else. I dont even want to go into all the vintage macross stuff i have found over the years. When I buy large collections of macross, I try and keep the collection together, and I dont sell it. Its just so cool when you find somebody that collected and enjoyed macross too, just like you, to amass such a large collection and for some reason have to sell it. Mostly the parents fault. I have found collections with love letters to minmey, poetry, drawings, amongst the toys. Great stuff. And I keep it all together. Who knows, you may run into the original owner and he may see that you have his stuff. My biggest score so far was a huge Robotech(macross, southern cross, mopeada) lot. I mean huge. I noticed that the boxes had New Jersey address on them. Old labels. And the story the guy told me, kind of long to tell here, but its a small world. Unfortunalty, the guy had sold the stuff already to somebody, talk about that sinking feeling in your stomach. Let me put it this way, this guy had so much stuff, that the person that bought the stuff has to drive his suv into the swap meet and back it into the sellers spot just to load the stuff in. Funny, because I asked the guy who bought the stuff to sell it to me right now. He didnt even know what he had. I offered him a measly $200 and he said hed think about it. Were talking about $3000 worth of vintage robotech. Anyway, I ended going to the buyers house where he had displayed everything on the tables, floors, anywhere here could find room,, cuz there was just so much. He told me that his buddies said that these were worth a lot of money. Ok, so I said how much, Im thinking he going to say $1500 or so. He says $300. Im like hell yeah. I actually brought $500in my pocket, so I would have a down payment if he gave me the $1500 price. Needless to say, I was happy as hell, and it took me 3 trips in my vw golf just to get the stuff to my house.

Anywho, people, invest in something. Be it toys, houses, it should be something youlike. Just like a job, do something you like.

[buddhafabio]

Ok, here we go. Real estate overall is the best investment. Here in cali, house values are going up about 10k a month. No joke, my family is in real estate. So I speak no lies or heresay, but what is true or what actually works for me. We have clients that are buying houses now, and dont even live in them or rent them out. You figure if there spending $2,500 a month on a mortage, but the value of there house increases $10k every month, they are gaining equity of $7,500 amonth with out doing anyting but paying the mortage. I would do real estate investing, but I just cant come up with a large enough sum of money for a down payment on houses going for $400,000k. And I have unstated income, and banks dont like that. So on with the toys.

the real estate market is super overvalued and will correct its values soon (2-5years) and alot of people will lose money

[Blaine23]

I don't think it's much different than it's ever been - with the exception that alot of Macross toys have been released in the last 4 years, thanks to Yamato (and formerly Bandai). People bought a bunch because there hadn't been anything but overpriced vintage toys and knock-offs for several years. Now some of those folks realize they have too much of it around the house, or their nostalgia vibe has worn off, or they simply need some money.

The real indicator is whether new Macross toy sales are up or down. And nobody really knows that but Yamato, I suppose. But if the sold out production runs of the 1/48's are any proof - things are fine.

[LORD KUNGFU]

yeah, true dat. The real estate bubble will burst. But it wont drop so fast like the stock market(overnight), so you would be able to sell out before things get to bad. Also, I dont think it will drop to drastically. I mean, up in the desert just north of L.A., there is such a large boom in buisness, that once quite town of palmdale is becoming like L.A. IF these large buisnesses are investing so much in this expansion, there got to be a reason. The large corporations have much more research power, and there not buying up the city because its all going to drop one day. I dont claim to be a real estate expert, I just know what I see, and what I hear from my family. I think a lot of it is simply overcrowding in l.a., and theres a big push now to move to the smaller less populated desert communities. NOt to mention that I saw a 1 bedroom 800 sq. ft. house in l.a. going for $600,000k. WTF!

I will hold my house for now, since I have a lot of equity in it, then when the market starts to slow, I will sell it, take my profits, and move the hell out of the damn state of CA. and buy a house in another state, straight up cash. And I will have to rent a tractor trailer to bring my macross stuff with me.

[treatment]

I've seen a lot of ebay auctions and for sale threads of people exiting or stop collecting Macross items and dump their goods on ebay and classifieds causing price drops on not only newer valks but also older vintage ones that are rare.

I've seen 3 ebay seller where they were auctioning off every macross item and are taking it at a loss by selling a lot of good stuff at very below market price.

Do you think or aware of many baby boomers getting out of macross?

It could also be this housing bubble that everyone is scrambling to liquidate their assets just to buy an inflated value property...

not really.

I think those bastards just over-bought valks to make a profit in re-sale market, but alot of us refuses to buy inflated pricing and stuff anymore.

[vlenhoff]

I collect for the love, not for the money...

Vic!

[rocco_77]

I just turned 34, and I have the largest collection of anything I've ever had in Macross now. And I will never sell them. I think it's all about attitude and necessity... A lot of people my age don't really understand my facination with these toys, but then again, I don't really understand some people's facination with stamps, or naval lint, or bottle caps, coasters, match books, and the like... So.. to each his/her own..

As for the off topic real estate discussion.... I wouldn't plan to see property values come down any time real soon. They still on the rise with really no end in sight... When the economy stabalizes a bit more, and the feds up the interest rates is when you will see the market stabalize, and the equity increase begin to slow... Some places may drop in value, but it won't be much. I don't see property in SoCal coming down much if any... Values may just stop climbing for a while...

[Wabbit]

What are ppl called that are born between 1975 en 1985?

Edited August 10, 2004 by Wabbit

[LORD KUNGFU]

I just turned 34, and I have the largest collection of anything I've ever had in Macross now. And I will never sell them. I think it's all about attitude and necessity... A lot of people my age don't really understand my facination with these toys, but then again, I don't really understand some people's facination with stamps, or naval lint, or bottle caps, coasters, match books, and the like... So.. to each his/her own..

As for the off topic real estate discussion.... I wouldn't plan to see property values come down any time real soon. They still on the rise with really no end in sight... When the economy stabalizes a bit more, and the feds up the interest rates is when you will see the market stabalize, and the equity increase begin to slow... Some places may drop in value, but it won't be much. I don't see property in SoCal coming down much if any... Values may just stop climbing for a while...

yeah, what is it with naval lint and boogers. My roommate in the army would collect his snot. Seriously, besides leaving a dirt outline of his body on the sheets, I just happend to look at the rail of his be one day, the closest to the wall, and there was a huge mound of dried up snot. And you could tell its been growing, cuz the bottom part was all dry, and the top part was still moist. Looked like a green and brown volcano. I should have took a picture. Damn!

[do not disturb]

What are ppl called that are born between 1975 en 1985?

they're called LOSERS! j/j

sorry but you set yourself up for that one.

[Wabbit]

What are ppl called that are born between 1975 en 1985? 

they're called LOSERS! j/j

sorry but you set yourself up for that one.

I know that, but that can't be the whole lot...

[do not disturb]

What are ppl called that are born between 1975 en 1985? 

they're called LOSERS! j/j

sorry but you set yourself up for that one.

I know that, but that can't be the whole lot...

seriously, the majority calls them Generation-Y

not so seriously, like "Y" did you have to be born? and yes, thats for the whole lot of ya's. j/j

lordkungfu,

one word for you "transfer".

you got one nasty roomie.

[Myersjessee]

Yep...Im another GenXer and while I have not sold my collection or stopped collecting my enthusiasm is waning. It's lost a bit of it's newnewss and novelty (thus the chorus of comments about enough with the VF1...we want something new) I dont collect for the investment, but I do like the idea of passing on my toys to my son someday. Most likely, he wont want them then...but who knows... In general...while a bit embarassing...my toys make me smile...and thats why I still collect them.

[eugimon]

Ok, here we go. Real estate overall is the best investment. Here in cali, house values are going up about 10k a month. No joke, my family is in real estate. So I speak no lies or heresay, but what is true or what actually works for me. We have clients that are buying houses now, and dont even live in them or rent them out. You figure if there spending $2,500 a month on a mortage, but the value of there house increases $10k every month, they are gaining equity of $7,500 amonth with out doing anyting but paying the mortage. I would do real estate investing, but I just cant come up with a large enough sum of money for a down payment on houses going for $400,000k. And I have unstated income, and banks dont like that. So on with the toys.

the real estate market is super overvalued and will correct its values soon (2-5years) and alot of people will lose money

mmm, this is kinda correct, california is a bit different than other markets, as is new york city and any other high population/limited land areas.

while california is a large state, very little of it is actually easy to develop, most of the ariable flat land in the state is already developed or is currently agricultural... in fact only a few areas in southern california is currently available as undeveloped land, notably the area around victorville and apple valley.

if you go farther north of their, the land is primarily agricultural and very little exists in terms of infrastructre and existing in terms of employment or support for urban/suburban development.

and the bay area is even more constrained geographicaly.

so while the housing market is over valued a readjustment would only be around 20% and at most 30%. a lot of money considering many people only put down 20% when purchasing a new home but over the long term, they will more than make back their money.

And the people purchasing acres of undeveloped land for a only a grand (or a couple grand) per acre are betting pretty wisely, IMO.

you also need to take into consideratin that people will always migrate to california, be it people from other states moving to california or from other countries. california will always attract new comers and thus the population will always grow. Also, despitea few public companies leaving the area, there is little reason to think that there will be a mass migration of companies ut of california causing a depression in the economy. even with the recent economic downturn, california remains a strong and viable economic power...

back on topic, i think a lot of people are ditching their old macross gear because the new nflux of toys by yamato and toynami and the reissues of bandai means that people just won't be willing to pay a grand for a toy they can get for 10% of that price.

[Graham]

I'm going to be 35 later this year and have no intention to stop collecting Macross toys. I'm still as keen as ever and very enthusiastic about each new release.

However, financial realities and limitations in storage space have forced me to get rid of many of my multiples during the last year. Even I'll admit I went a bit crazy in the past. I mean did I really need 14pcs of VF-11B? I'm now limiting myself to 1 or 2pcs of each new release only.

Also, luckily Hong Kong where I live is a place were toy collecting by adults is pretty common and not looked down on. Even if I did live back England, where the majority of people would think you were some sort of social deviant if you collected toys, I'd still collect and be proud of it.

Graham

[Protoplast]

Ok, here we go. Real estate overall is the best investment. Here in cali, house values are going up about 10k a month. No joke, my family is in real estate. So I speak no lies or heresay, but what is true or what actually works for me. We have clients that are buying houses now, and dont even live in them or rent them out. You figure if there spending $2,500 a month on a mortage, but the value of there house increases $10k every month, they are gaining equity of $7,500 amonth with out doing anyting but paying the mortage. I would do real estate investing, but I just cant come up with a large enough sum of money for a down payment on houses going for $400,000k. And I have unstated income, and banks dont like that. So on with the toys.

Hold it right there.. that statement is a sign of why the feds raise the rates today..

At the current economy levels, the appreciation in value of real estates will cause inefficiencies throughout the economy, especially inflation.

Real estates is a good investment but it is violatile as well and through the economy expansion mostly because money has been taken out through cheap loans but it is very dangerous.

Let me ask you.. you claim that the property values goes up $10k per month, so supposedly I have a $800k property, you mean that in 10 month it will be $900k?

What happens in 20month? $1 mil?

You know what goes up must fall as well? You sounded exactly like those people doing the IPOs in the 90s and I think the people who are really profiting in the market are the sellers and the buyers and investors eventually will have to eat up the losses soon when they realize that real estate is not very liquid and if there are any economic changes, you will risk losing it.

I already know people who have lost money in the market right now because they bought over-valued properties and now must eat up the cost as the interest rate is going up.. there will be more cautious buyers and lesser demand than now..

I also know an agent that's getting out of the business because he made a lot of money and he feels it's time to move on as he predicts the best years of this market is over.

Good luck, don't be misguided, the world works in cycles.. always..

[Protoplast]

yeah, true dat. The real estate bubble will burst. But it wont drop so fast like the stock market(overnight), so you would be able to sell out before things get to bad. Also, I dont think it will drop to drastically. I mean, up in the desert just north of L.A., there is such a large boom in buisness, that once quite town of palmdale is becoming like L.A. IF these large buisnesses are investing so much in this expansion, there got to be a reason. The large corporations have much more research power, and there not buying up the city because its all going to drop one day. I dont claim to be a real estate expert, I just know what I see, and what I hear from my family. I think a lot of it is simply overcrowding in l.a., and theres a big push now to move to the smaller less populated desert communities. NOt to mention that I saw a 1 bedroom 800 sq. ft. house in l.a. going for $600,000k. WTF!

I will hold my house for now, since I have a lot of equity in it, then when the market starts to slow, I will sell it, take my profits, and move the hell out of the damn state of CA. and buy a house in another state, straight up cash. And I will have to rent a tractor trailer to bring my macross stuff with me.

Here's what may or likely scenerio..

Prices of homes will reach a level where it won't be sold for sometime and as the interest rate hikes starts to happen and not many people are getting new jobs or bonuses, the property will just sit for awhile until whomever decides to lower the price a little or keep paying for it and let it sit.

If this catches on, soon you should have a bunch of empty houses with the owners just letting it sit hoping that some Mr.Moneybag shows up and buys the over-valued house.. Sure, if the interest rates stay low, there will be a bunch of newbies bidding on houses like its ebay but when the rates go up, the price must come down.

The reason a lot of prices of house stay up because many investors are buying up properties to keep supplies low to inflate the prices up..

But I hear he market is slowing down a little, especially for the million dollar+ homes.

Do be careful, what is good about the stock market is that you can simply dump the stock or take a loss and get a tax break on it. But if you take a hit on real estates, a house can become something difficult to unload if there some ripple effect, no to mention you still gotta pay the real estate taxes.

[arrow]

Besides, with interest rates rising. and another 25 basis points predicted in the next three months. There will be less people willing to get a loan to buy houses to fuel the property boom.

Any other investment ideas from anyone?

[eugimon]

Ok, here we go. Real estate overall is the best investment. Here in cali, house values are going up about 10k a month. No joke, my family is in real estate. So I speak no lies or heresay, but what is true or what actually works for me. We have clients that are buying houses now, and dont even live in them or rent them out. You figure if there spending $2,500 a month on a mortage, but the value of there house increases $10k every month, they are gaining equity of $7,500 amonth with out doing anyting but paying the mortage.  I would do real estate investing, but I just cant come up with a large enough sum of money for a down payment on houses going for $400,000k. And I have unstated income, and banks dont like that.  So on with the toys.

Hold it right there.. that statement is a sign of why the feds raise the rates today..

At the current economy levels, the appreciation in value of real estates will cause inefficiencies throughout the economy, especially inflation.

Real estates is a good investment but it is violatile as well and through the economy expansion mostly because money has been taken out through cheap loans but it is very dangerous.

Let me ask you.. you claim that the property values goes up $10k per month, so supposedly I have a $800k property, you mean that in 10 month it will be $900k?

What happens in 20month? $1 mil?

You know what goes up must fall as well? You sounded exactly like those people doing the IPOs in the 90s and I think the people who are really profiting in the market are the sellers and the buyers and investors eventually will have to eat up the losses soon when they realize that real estate is not very liquid and if there are any economic changes, you will risk losing it.

I already know people who have lost money in the market right now because they bought over-valued properties and now must eat up the cost as the interest rate is going up.. there will be more cautious buyers and lesser demand than now..

I also know an agent that's getting out of the business because he made a lot of money and he feels it's time to move on as he predicts the best years of this market is over.

Good luck, don't be misguided, the world works in cycles.. always..

this is true, the rule of thumb for investments is buy when others are selling and sell when others are buying...

but there are markets that will remain steady over the long term and will only have marginal fluctuations over the short term...

southern california, san francisco, new york city... these areas will always be appreciating in value.

[Graham]

Time to close, this is supposed to be a Macross toy forum, not a real estate forum.

Graham