Green Pointe Partners

Our services

2009-01-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

Was asked to post a list of our consulting services, so here it is:

Developer and Bank workouts on ailing real estate projects
Social media services including set up, writing, public relations and listening post
Sales training with a focus on real estate, mortgage lending, and new home sales
Development market studies, with feasibility and planning assistance
Strategic planning - company planning retreats, organization structure

That's the bulk of our services, please feel free to contact me directly if I can prepare a proposal for you and/or your company or project.

Email

10 Predictions not commonly held

2009-01-04T06:07:00.001-08:00

I liked this idea, which I picked up while reading RSS feed from The Big Picture
Refers to 20 Surprises for 2009 by Doug Kass

Here's his list:

1. The Russian mafia and Russian oligarchs are found to be large investors with Madoff.

2. Housing stabilizes sooner than expected.

3. The nation’s commercial real estate markets experience only a shallow pricing downturn in the first half of 2009.

4. The U.S. economy stabilizes sooner than expected.

5. The U.S. stock market rises by close to 20% in the year’s first half.

6. A second quarter “growth scare” bursts the bubble in the government bond market.
7. Commodities markets remain subdued.

8. Capital spending disappoints further.

9. The hedge fund and fund of funds industries do not recover in 2009.

10. Mutual fund redemptions from 2008 reverse into inflows in 2009.

11. State and municipal imbalances and deficits mushroom.

12. The automakers and the UAW come to an agreement over wages.

13. The new administration replaces SEC Commissioner Cox.

14. Large merger of equals deals multiply.

15. Focus shifts for several media darlings.

16. The Internet becomes the tactical nuke of the digital age.

17. A handful of sports franchises file bankruptcy.

18. The Fox Business Network closes.

19. Old, leveraged media implode.

20. The Middle East’s infrastructure build-out is abruptly halted owing to “market conditions.”

And my list:

Housing recovery has already started, and will become big story in 2009. Home building will remain sluggish while inventories slowly drop.
Stock market rally in first quarter to 12,000 Dow ... with big stories dominated by mergers and acquisitions
Even though Federal Government gave out cash to GM and Chrysler, both will file bankruptcy in 2nd quarter, with GM being purchased by Ford and Chrysler by Toyota. This will break the union contracts and allow steel, textiles, and other union dominated industries to begin re-organizing labor contracts.
Mortgage rates will hang at 5% till end of March, with refinance boom helping dodge Alt-A reset crisis, but then start going up as "economic recovery" news causes inflation to become more certain
Oil will go back up to $80 by June 2009, the dollar will strengthen though. The US will lead the global recovery thus the dollar strength. Oil demand issues will recover traction thus the oil strength.
Conservative groups will continue rapid growth - #TCOT, #dontgo, #rebuild, and collaborative projects will push to hyperlocal since local races in 2009 and 2010 are more important than national ... ie. local state house control of re-districting in Indiana
Obama will be tied in knots, one the one side his radical left support, on the other the great middle of America that only heard "change" ... he will accomplish very little in 2009 and 2010 ... which frankly will be good for America
Governments all over the country will actually have to cut budgets, and cut deeply. This will be the first time in decades that budgets actually get cut. Some politicians will lose in 2010 merely because they couldn't deliver pork for the first time.
Hyper local blogger collaboration will hurt traffic to individual bloggers, with a rush to get added to collaborative projects. Monetization will only work in collaborative aggregates, with traffic and advertising connections. See circa 2006 model Northwest Indiana bloggers, old news. I better move or I'm dead in the water too.
Massive unemployment will actually be good for the economy, with consulting and home based contractors niche growing substantially. Companies will hire the work they actually need and leave the extras to the side as unecessary overhead. The fast and connected will not only survive but grow, the lazy and entitled will be left far far behind.

What are your predictions for 2009? Disagree with me, cool comment or email me, the engagement is more important than the prophesy.

Talk to Ford about auto bailout on twitter

2008-12-12T09:40:00.001-08:00

Lots of talk about the auto bailout, and whether the Congress or President will give them cash. This guy has engaged on Ford Exec himself and is hosting a public exchange on twitter this morning

clipped from kirkpete.blogspot.com

Lobbying in Plain Sight: The Auto Bailout on Twitter

Update: Operation Ford Motor now has its own hash tag, #OFM, if you want to follow the action today.

I don't know what if anything will come of this, but it's fascinating -- beginning at about 10:30 a.m. today, Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford (yes, there is such a function now), began a Twitter conversation with Michael P. Leahy, head of a new Twitter-powered conservative group called Top Conservatives on Twitter (#TCOT).

Even if you don't have a Twitter account, I believe you should be able to follow this search link, which currently shows the "Tweet" below as the first result:

Welcome TCOT members

2008-12-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

This is my business blog, for our small business consulting practice. Feel free to subscribe and let me give you a list of my more political sites as well, thanks again for stopping by:

Porter County Indiana Politics

Red County - Porter County Indiana

Hoosiers for McCain

Hoosier Access - guest author

NWI Connect - guest author

If you follow me on twitter daltonsbriefs I'll get you followed back later this weekend as I'm cleaning out my follow lists. About 50% of my posts on twitter are related to politics, and the other half real estate-mortgage business in Northwest Indiana.

Could gasoline now be too low?

2008-11-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

I'm worried that with gasoline dropping this low, we'll lose our interest in Drilling for More Domestic Oil. Come on nation, keep your focus, we need energy independence. Drill Here, Drill Now. Do you remember the Don't Go Movement in the summer, or have you already forgotten too? Our nation needs to get energy independent, now.

from CARPE DIEM

The chart above shows the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas purchased at the retail price from January 1980 to November 2008, measured as a percent of monthly per-capita disposable income using income data and population data from the BEA, and gas price data from the EIA and Gas Buddy.

At the current national average price of $1.83 per gallon, 1,000 gallons of gas ($1,830) would cost 5.22% of per-capita disposable income of $35,058. That's the lowest cost since December of 2003, almost five years ago. In St. Louis, where gas is available in some locations for as low as $1.33 per gallon, a thousand gallons of gas now costs only 3.79% of monthly per-capita disposable income, which is slightly lower than the February 1999 all-time historical low of 3.88%, when gas averaged 92 cents per gallon.

Happy Thanksgiving - Challenges and Blessings

2008-11-27T03:54:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving - We have overcome

No pun intended, Happy Thanksgiving. In this time of economic worry, I felt it important this morning to remember that we have overcome many obstacles along the way in our nation's history and we will overcome these as well. Now, before we take ourselves too serious, we've also been blessed by God and it's high time we take those blessings serious. No soapbox today though.

Thanks for our families, for our churches, for our communities. Thanks for the ability to speak freely and gather in whatever groups we choose. Thanks for our government leaders, although we may have voted different, their responsibilities are great and warrant our support. Thanks for Northwest Indiana, the Southshore of beaches and mills of jobs.

As we gather with friends and family today, remember those who are not as fortunate as you ... there are homeless in NW Indiana, there are hungry, there are families still suffering from the floods a few months ago, there are families unemployed or worried about being unemployed soon. Pause a moment, how can you help.

Buy a toaster - get a bank for free

2008-11-26T06:11:00.001-08:00

I think I saw this last week, but forgot to bookmark so here it is

clipped from mjperry.blogspot.com

FDIC Special: Buy a Toaster and Get a Free Bank

Next Generation Accounting Firm

2008-11-24T09:10:00.001-08:00

I came across this firm while doing some research for one of my clients, a financial consulting company that does work for cities and towns and not-for-profits. Root is going the extra mile to use technology and paperless office strategies to change the way accounting is conducted. Kudos

clipped from www.root.com

Search

Jobless claims jump more than expected

2008-11-20T06:18:00.001-08:00

Hold your horses, this news was expected and frankly will probably get a bit worse in December and January before we see jobs numbers improve. 3 million members of the real estate - housing industry have lost jobs over the last year, this wave affect is now finally hitting the rest of the economy.

clipped from www.marketwatch.com

Weekly U.S. jobless claims jump to 542,000

Initial claims hit highest since July 1992; continuing claims touch 4 million

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 27,000 to stand at 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, the Labor Department reported. The number was much higher than the 503,000 that had been expected by economists.

Walmart donations for jobs training

2008-11-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

From InBusiness

The Walmart State Giving Program awarded the Center of Workforce Innovations a grant for $100,000, November 10 at the 10th Annual Valparaiso Rotary Club’s Veteran’s Recognition Day Luncheon. The event was a fitting venue for the presentation as the grant will support the CWI project, called Talent Gain, to assist returning veterans secure employment.

Talent Gain will focus on placing returning vets to our region with employment in high-demand jobs like advanced manufacturing and transportation-distribution-logistics. These industries not only recognize the work skills veteran’s received while on active duty, they also acknowledge their integrity, loyalty, work ethic, and their ability to function well under pressure. “We look forward to growing and moving this initiative forward with the generosity of Walmart,” said Linda Woloshansky, President of the Center of Workforce Innovations. “Assisting our returning vets by working to place them in positions, is very gratifying,” she adds.

“Walmart through its State Giving Plan is pleased to support community programs like Center of Workforce Innovations’ veteran re-employment project,” said Jason Wetzel, senior manager of public affairs for Walmart in Indiana and Ohio. “This is Walmart’s way of continuing to serve the community and our commitment to help our military personnel while oversees and when they return, and help their families as well.”

The Center of Workforce Innovations’ project is committed to the re-employment of recently separated veterans and their spouses by facilitating job placement prior to their return to the community. CWI overseeing the One Stop Career System has access to a range of veterans' services and the Indiana Job Service. Yet these resources are not enough to show our commitment to, and support of, our returning military and their families. Job search, even with the use of the Internet, is difficult because of the large number of applicants for every job. The project is relatively straight-forward. Web cameras donated from major companies are placed in One Stop offices and pre-exit military transition facilities. Area employers then agree to post job openings, and interview via Web-cams, candidates prior to their return to the area using VOIP. We believe companies making this level of commitment to those who have served our country will give those returning not only an edge on being the candidate of choice, but also dramatically reduce the length of time between their return and re-employment.

Source: The Center of Workforce Innovations

What NW Indiana needs - Recovery

2008-11-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

This site remains focused on creating economic opportunities in Northwest Indiana. I have spent the last ten years of my life working in creating communities, economic development, consulting with small businesses wanting to grow and evolve. It seems that all the world is discussing the economy right now, and in Northwest Indiana it's no different.

We were not hit as hard initially by the housing downturn. Banks did squeeze the home builders early in 2007, putting roughly 50% of them out of business. This caused great distress in construction jobs and home building of course, but had the effect of limiting the inventory runup. Already positive indications that inventories are leveling and foreclosures are working through quickly.
Mortgages can still be acquired, although mostly FHA lending so a little more expensive than in past years, so while rates were low in August there were a ton of refinances, and now after two years of sitting on the sidelines first time buyers are back out looking at homes again. (See FHA Mortgage Limits for Northwest Indiana)
While housing was stagnant in 2007 and early 2008, commercial construction maintained its activity, and was able to support those looking for jobs in that industry. The Steel Industry, which is very important to the Region, was solid and actually hiring former construction workers back to the mill through the summer.
In September, when banks started to pull all their money off the table, commercial construction finally began to crack. At this point the credit crisis hit Wall Street and Obama took the lead in all Presidential polls.

Where does NW Indiana go then in the next 12 months?

The Steel Mills have already begun cutting back outside contractor work and overtime, mainly due to automakers and appliance problems.
Commercial construction is on hold, on ice, awaiting the banks actually getting back into business. Residential construction is still on hold, and in my estimation the one easy place to get a burst of activity in the economy with aggressive push to build for first time buyers all over America.
Inflation is non-existent, unemployment increasing to 6.5% and Wall Street jitters have everyone with a 401K uncomfortable.

Some steps I am recommending to construction clients:

Find ways to build for the first time buyer, partner with lenders to help these buyers clean up their credit, acquire 3% down payment, and build at the lowest levels possible. This is the market that will recover first.
Rehabs for existing homes can still pay margin, if you hold overhead to almost zero, and do most of the work yourself

Some steps I am recommending to communities:

First time buyers are waiting for leadership, and we sorely need them in the market. Use your bully pulpit and time to raise the issue. With rates under 7% and home values depressed this is the time for these buyers to grab their first home. Home owners buy consumer goods, care for homes, pay property taxes ... we all need thousands of new home owners in our communities.
Although Indiana has capped property taxes, use funds in 2009 wherever you can find them for infrastructure projects. Bid it out and be amazed how low the prices will be, do twice as much work as previously planned. Valparaiso's recent increase in AV is just one good example of investing and getting the return back immediately.
Maintain a list of all employers of more than 5 employees in your community. Actively pursue them, asking "how can we help you grow?" This is no time to waste hundreds of thousands on out of town recruiting, this is time to grow the businesses already in your community and taking risks. Most will need help with capital and lending, since local banks are too scared of their shadows to help out. Help, bully, partner.

I'll leave the post hanging for now, and await more ideas in comments. Udpates to come later this week.

Advice for commercial real estate

2008-10-31T04:05:00.000-07:00

From Live Blogging a Commercial Real Estate Group Therapy Session

Boiled down:

Interest rates are running over 10% for any deals that are getting approved
Most of the deals are distressed and firesale, so don't try and sell unless you're in trouble
Most of the agents are too young to remember any downturn (I'm personally thinking that this means many of them will leave the industry)
The author suggests that properties are selling at a 30% discount, mainly because no one can get financing

Do read the original article, with more details on the blogger's own market, Arizona I think.

My thoughts:

In Northwest Indiana we are not having as hard a time with commercial real estate, at least we aren't yet.
Some of the small banks still have money they can lend, albeit at lower LTV's than in the past, but it can be done.
Agree that selling right now is probably a bad idea, why sell into an irrationally depressed market?
Housing is key - homebuyers are key. We all need to celebrate the housing recovery, which in NW Indiana has begun, and help the process by buying, refinancing, remodeling, and promoting all the above. If you want to be succussful in commercial real estate ownership, management, leasing, or development ... you have to want and help create a successful residential real estate market.

NW Indiana Social Media Consultant

2008-10-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is a self-promoting product update - that's the disclaimer right up front. So without further fanfare:

Green Pointe Partners is proud to be working with several small businesses in Northwest Indiana utilizing social media avenues for business development.

Blogging for customer communication and feedback, information, links, and contact
Using facebook. plaxo, friendfeed, twitter, and other social networks to build community and interaction
Website SEO for better search engine rankings
Email marketing and digital newsletter campaigns to build traffic, highlight products, and again create interaction

We would be happy to add just a few more small business clients, ones we can really work hand in hand with to take advantage of these exciting online opportunities. Feel free to contact today at steve@greenptdev.com

Steve Dalton

Indiana Chamber of Commerce Endorse Mitch Daniels

2008-10-20T10:40:00.001-07:00

For the first time in it's history the Indiana Chamber of Commerce stepped out and endorsed Mitch Daniels for Governor. Not too tough a call, since he's leading in all polls and in some by as much as 18%. But it does say a lot when all we're hearing about is a recession and credit market problems ... The Daniels administration is doing much better than almost all other states.

clipped from www.insideindianabusiness.com

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest broad-based business association, today announced its endorsement of Republican Mitch Daniels for governor. This marks the first time in the Chamber’s 86-year history that it has publicly endorsed a gubernatorial candidate.

“Indiana’s performance has been head and shoulders above its Midwestern neighbors and most others across the country. Our state's AAA credit rating is a good example. We must continue to elevate our state in order to have that competitive advantage when it comes to business and job location, the rightsizing of local government, training for our existing workers and so much more that impacts Hoosiers every day. That’s why keeping Gov. Daniels – someone who has demonstrated his ability to achieve success in these areas – in office is so important for our state.”

Indiana Municipal Consultants - New Website

2008-10-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

One piece at a time the new website is taking form, please comment we'd love the input.

clipped from www.cendercompany.com

Financial Advisors and Planning Consultants for the Public Sector, Tax Consulting for Individuals and Businesses.

For more information contact the
professionals at Cender & Company, LLC.

Phone 219.736.1800
Email office@cendercompany.com
8585 Broadway Suite 777, Merrillville, IN 46410

Promote others for success

2008-10-20T07:09:00.001-07:00

I found this article while reviewing Chris Brogan's shared items on google reader, a regular read. It looks like Chris and Louis Gray have a mutual admiration society going, that will benefit both of them. Are you promoting others?

clipped from www.louisgray.com

Making Your Blogging Much More than Just "You"

On Sunday, Chris Brogan asked an important question: "How Often Do You Promote Others?", asking how often many of us are highlighting lesser-known people, sharing their items, or promoting their work, to expand awareness. One of the people Chris gave credit to was Robert Scoble, who Chris said "points me to new stuff all the time".

It's no secret a lot of my own online activity is the result of having watched watching Scoble's efforts. It was his pushing toward Google Reader, creating a link blog, and linking out to people big and small that has guided some of my own behavior. So, as I mentioned on Chris' stream in FriendFeed, here's what I'm trying to do

clipped from www.louisgray.com

louisgray.com
Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts and Mac freaks.
(May also occasionally contain some TiVo, media, sports and politics...)

Democrats say "disregard the fraud" of ACORN

2008-10-15T12:44:00.001-07:00

It may be too late, everyday voters are pretty frustrated that Democrats for Obama have pursued fraudulent registrations. Polls get closer today, as many voters are getting sick of hearing about unions and Democrats in collusion.

clipped from www.indystar.com

Democrats brush off vote fraud claims

State Democratic officials said today that the growing fervor over allegations of voter fraud and remote polling sites in Lake County is a smoke screen aimed at shoring up Republican John McCain's chances to win Indiana.

In Lake County, an attorney for labor unions and Democrats wants a new judge to decide to decide whether satellite early voting centers can stay open in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago.

One Year Anniversary of Dow's Peak

2008-10-09T08:21:00.001-07:00

Bad News - we've dropped 34.6%
Good News - it can go right back to where it came from, and will, as soon as we all agree to regain our confidence in what we are, and how we do it.

IMHO, Obama will never give us that kind of confidence.

clipped from www.marketwatch.com

HomeAutosSavingsMore Rates »

30-year fixed5.9%+0.9%

15-year fixed5.6%+1.6%

Equity6.3%0.0%

National averages from
Bankrate.com

New 36-month6.8%+0.1%

New 48-month6.8%+0.1%

Used 36-month7.2%+0.1%

National averages from
Bankrate.com

Money Market2.4%0.0%

3-month CD2.6%-0.8%

1-year CD3.6%-1.6%

National averages from
Bankrate.com

The bottom in housing - Fueling demand

2008-10-08T09:54:00.001-07:00

Looks like July was indeed the bottom, and demand is increasing in all regions for homes. This will take a good six months to begin the process of reducing inventories so prices can begin to recover.

If you are thinking of buying, do so now at the bottom, you won't want to miss it.

clipped from www.marketwatch.com

Pending home sales index rises 7.4% in August: NAR

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Despite the credit crunch gripping the U.S. economy, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that an index of sales contracts on previously owned homes rose 7.4% in August from the prior month.

NAR says pending home-sales activity rose because of buyers taking advantage of low prices and affordable interest rates. August's results show an "unleashing of pent-up demand" before the credit crisis worsened in September, Yun said.

Carpe Diem moving up - worth a daily read

2008-10-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

I try and read this site every day, and it looks like 5,000 others are as well every day

clipped from mjperry.blogspot.com

Carpe Diem Moves Up to #11 on Gongol

Wells Fargo wins bidding for Wachovia

2008-10-03T04:15:00.000-07:00

Now the real interesting news in this announcement (Wells Fargo beats out Citigroup in bidding for Wachovia)

No government assistance needed from FDIC or Treasury or Bailout
Price to purchase actually increased, a true bidding war
Wells Fargo was chosen over Citigroup (of one world order fame) so competition still exists even in these dire times

I am very excited to see how the markets are working themselves out.

Porter County meets national Red County site

2008-10-01T14:24:00.001-07:00

Some self promotion, our site Porter County Indiana Politics reached some eyeballs, and I was asked to start posting on Red County Blogs.

clipped from www.redcounty.com

My Man Mitch holds 16 point lead

I
have been asking recently: "Will Mitch Daniels' popularity, and the
regained traction of Senator John McCain for President have down ticket
effects on House or Senate races?" Thoughts? Where do you project our
Congressional Delegation to end up? State house and senate?

Porter Starke Services - new building on hold

2008-09-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

Due to problems in the bond market, Valparaiso based Porter Starke Services announced yesterday that it would postpone indefinitely the construction of an 8,000 mental health services building in Portage. There is no doubt the services are needed, with clients increasing this year, but the bond market has rapidly changed and caused problems for development financing.

CEO David Lomaka suggested possibly working with the county to access funds, perhaps in the form of a loan from the hospital proceeds or interest, so the building could still move forward. Any council or commission members willing to talk?

Here's the article from the Times:

Porter-Starke postpones building plans

PORTAGE | The declining U.S. economy has hit one local mental heath provider's plans to expand.

Porter-Starke Services, Inc. announced Friday that it has put on hold its plans to construct an 8,000-square-foot facility on Willowcreek Road south of U.S. 6.

Bob Franko, vice president of marketing and development, said the company was finalizing terms of a bond to finance the construction when the financial markets experienced a downturn. The changes in the market affected the terms of the bonds and has made it no longer financially feasible for Porter-Starke to meet its plans to begin construction this fall.

Franko said there still are many unanswered questions about the future of the planned facility, but there are no plans to remove services from Portage. Porter-Starke presently operates out of a rented facility at 3349 Willowcreek Road.

"We don't know what our plan B is going to be at this point, but pulling out of Portage is not an option," said Franko, adding that the board's audit and finance committees will meet to assess the situation before any decisions are made.

One option may be to turn to county officials and explore the use of the interest proceeds from last year's sale of Porter hospital, said David Lomaka, Porter-Starke president and CEO.

Lomaka said officials have already discussed using the funds for inpatient psychiatric unit and that there are several other issues that are in the need of funding sources.

"We want to talk to them about using some of the money for bricks and mortar or look at a different way of financing. Our hope is to start to brainstorm with them," Lomaka said.

Ironically, Franko said, the postponement of the expansion comes at a time when more people are in need of mental health and addition services. They, too, are facing financial hardships.

Lomaka said client numbers have grown 7 percent and will exceed 8,000 clients this year.

Last chance to deregulate before we create big agency

2008-09-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

Republicans propose alternative free market solution

With Congress knotted over the $700 Billion plan to bailout problem bonds, based on sub-prime mortgage problems ... President Bush called John McCain and Senator Obama to the White House for a meeting with leaders on Thursday. Interestingly enough Obama agreed to this meeting, which could frame him as supportive of the President. I believe that meeting takes place late this afternoon, so the markets will probably wander around in waiting today.

In the meantime Republicans have proposed an alternative plan, much more free market based, that eliminates the capital gains tax and the "mark to market" requirement that is causing healthy banks to become unhealthy in the eyes of investors. See WSJ op-ed.

The RSC plan is chock-full of measures to remove barriers to economic growth and market-distorting subsidies. It would suspend capital gains taxes to put trillions of dollars of capital in the economy, and set Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which as CEI has documented were at the root of this crisis, on the road to full privatization.

Most importantly for the crisis at hand, the RSC plan would make regulatory agencies suspend the mark-to-market accounting rules that a range of experts agree are spreading the contagion by forcing solvent banks’ to “write down” their assets, based on the last fire sale of a highly leveraged bank. As Gary Gorton, finance professor at Yale and member of the National Bureau of Economic Research has written, “With no liquidity and no market prices, the accounting practice of ‘marking-to-market’ became highly problematic and resulted in massive write-downs based on fire-sale prices and estimates.”

Although I am highly supportive of President Bush, I am worried that Democrats will take any chance they can get to create massive agencies that won't go away down the road. I'm willing to listen to alternatives today, but understand the brevity of the situation and that today and tomorrow a decision has to be made. If Republicans can't get support for the alternative, then I'd like to see John McCain seal the deal today and make Bush's plan happen. If Republicans start to get some support, I'd love to see the Maverick jump in with them and dare Obama to back Bush's plan over a market based plan. What an amazing day today is.

The most famous investor calls the bottom

2008-09-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

If Warren Buffett is the smartest and most famous investor in the world today, it would appear he has called the bottom of the market and begun buying. Welcome back Mr. Buffett.

From Marketwatch:

Berkshire to invest up to $10 billion in Goldman

Buffett may be lured by stabilized business model of Wall Street firm

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- In a dramatic move that's pumped some life back into the financial sector, billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway late Tuesday said it would invest as much as $10 billion in Goldman Sachs Group as the venerable Wall Street firm transforms itself into a more-stable banking business.

"Warren Buffett is the ultimate stamp of approval," analysts at UBS said in a Wednesday research report. They concluded that, "Given Buffett's track record, we think his 10% to 20% stake in Goldman Sachs lends credibility to the firm's business model, client franchise, risk-management capabilities, and its its balance sheet."

"the insurance-focused conglomerate run by Buffett, will invest at least $5 billion in Goldman by buying perpetual preferred stock issued by the investment bank. The securities pay a dividend of 10% and are callable anytime at a 10% premium, meaning Goldman can buy them back at the higher price.

"Buffett did this after Goldman converted to a bank holding company," said Pat Dorsey, director of equity research at Morningstar. This means the Federal Reserve will be Goldman's new regulator, so Buffett "has people looking over their shoulder," he added. "Buffett is saying that, with less leverage and more stable sources of funding, this is an institution worth investing in," according to Dorsey. "From Buffett's perspective, you have a world-class firm in a less-competitive landscape with a hopefully less-risky business model."