The most fundamental rule of investing is the same now as it was: buy low, sell high. But the U.S. residential market may be the place to look for low lows and high highs today, said Ron Nawrocki, a real estate professional in Phoenix, Arizona, and a former member of AmCham, who shared some of his views on the residential market there at a meeting with the AmCham Real Estate Committee in September. The first reason residential markets in the U.S. hold big promise for investors is that as a result of the credit crunch, home prices dropped in some places beyond any imaginable levels. The reason the drop was so big was that homes in those areas were very popular with buyers before the credit crunch hit. As the U.S. population ages, many people choose these states for retirement. As a result of the credit crunch and the subsequent economic crisis in the U.S., homes in Arizona and other states were losing value as a wave of foreclosures increased. But when the market apparently bottomed out in late 2008 and early 2009, investors flocked to buy houses in different price ranges. According to Ron, residential markets in the U.S. offer good opportunities for investors because they are characterized by high dynamics and transparency. The best investment strategy today, according to our guest, is to find lenders and buy property for rent. Not all residential markets in the U.S. offer the same prospects for investors. The most promising are in the Sun Belt states, where people buy property for retirement, such as Florida, California, Nevada, and Arizona. While Florida and California are very competitive markets, according to Ron Nawrocki, Nevada and especially Arizona are relatively young markets which offer lucrative investment opportunities and few competitors. Now in the U.S. anything below 10 percent is a pretty boring investment when it comes to cap rates. A good return is around 20 percent, which looks logical and likely for years to come. [presentation]