Hello from Tampa Bay Florida

[cflannagan]

Hello everyone! I'm from Tampa Bay area in Florida. I went through a very long "dark ages" (if I use your lingo correctly, lol) where I have not played with Legos since childhood. That changed recently when we bought "Friends" Lego sets for our kids. As I sit down to work on the set together with our kids, it was like I forgot how fun it was to build a set from scratch, following instructions! I guess it's the "engineer" gene (I'm a software engineer) in my blood that makes me find this activity fun. Coincidentally, I came across those links article in my Feedly feed last week: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/27/lego-investors-profit/1732525/ http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/12/30/1422212/investing-in-lego-bricks-for-fun-but-mostly-profit?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=twitter (link inside Slashdot article leads back to Usatoday.com link above anyway) I found this website via a couple of Googles and did my own research on whether Lego investing is a viable alternative way to invest. I have seen enough to feel comfortable jumping in and bought my first collectible set, Tower Bridge $219 at Amazon! I have questions about conditions of this box - which I'll create separate thread for. Even though I can afford to "stock up" on various Lego sets if I can find a good deal (I do have some space), I am taking things very very slowly this time around. This is because we got burnt collecting a huge lot of Beanie Babies which is now worthless. I also have a nice collection of Magic: The Gathering cards (5th edition), which doesn't seem to be worth as much as what I paid for them yet (maybe I'm not looking hard enough for right places to sell those cards). The only difference is for the Beanie Babies collection, it was intended to make us profits (which failed). With the Magic:The Gathering cards, it's different because I was actually playing the game at the time and not necessarily buying anything to make profit (I'm actually playing this hobby, not collecting). I think my problem with Beanie Babies (BB) was that I jumped abroad the bandwagon way too late, after everybody else decided they want to invest into BB's too. As a result, values plummeted. Yes, I have read this very excellent article written by Ed Mack, http://www.brickpicker.com/index.php/blog/view/lego_investment_bubble_fact_or_fiction . The problem is, there was also a good amount of rationale back then when collecting BB's was a hot thing, and at the time the rationale made sense to me too. I hope Lego collecting is not going through a similar type of bubble - I'd hate to see people who get into this primarily for profits/investing and are left with huge collections of Lego sets that are now valued lower. On the other hand, with the fact that lots of people probably are jumping into the Lego investing scene due to articles linked above, and the fact I got burnt with BB collection, and kind of (but not as much because it was a hobby) with Magic:The Gathering cards, maybe people here should see me getting into this investing-into-Lego thing as a sign that they should begin reducing their Lego assets and cushion themselves some more, because bad luck seems to follow me around when it comes to investing, LOL How long has Lego investing scene been around anyway? Has it been a relatively recent thing, or has this been going on for decades, since Legos first hit the marketplace? Anyway, enough worrying on my part, I'm going to take it easy and just have fun and try not to get as obsessed as I did with the BB collection Looking forward to days ahead in those forums!

[Legodog]

You bring up some good points. It worries me a little that there are a lot of people all jumping in to this at the same time. As an example when I signed up here just a few weeks ago they were averaging about 250 members a week. After the USA Today article, Christmas, site updates and other exposure they are getting 1700+ sign ups weekly. If only a tiny fraction decides to invest seriously will there be too many of us? On the other hand more interest in this may be better for everyone involved. Maybe someone has some thoughts on this? Also keep in mind the site owners are investors themselves and if they aren't worried then maybe we shouldn't be either.

[Rich B]

Welcome to the site!! It is hard to say if a bubble will occur or not like it did with the Beanie Babies and with baseball cards, etc. There are plenty of arguments to both sides. The more you read up and research Lego investing the more you will discover about risk and a possible bubble occuring. My honest opinion has always been (and I say and repeat this all the time), that if you invest in Lego, you should invest in sets that you like. That way if they ever become worthless or never increase in value you can always open them up and build them. I know there are people out there that invest in Lego, but could care less about building it. If this market were to crash then I would think they would be hurt by it the most since they aren't interested in opening sets up to build for enjoyment. It is however anyone's choice to invest in Lego whether or not they actually enjoy playing with/building it. My opinion is if you're going to buy Lego as an investment buy sets you wouldn't mind building, that way if things ever head south you still get the satisfaction of building it.

[Ed Mack]

Hello...Welcome to the site. I'm glad you found us. LEGO investing probably was born shortly after the birth of eBay. I'm sure there were some creative eBay sellers that realized that LEGO sets and eBay auctions work well together. I'm happy you liked my bubble article. Although there are no guarantees of a future bubble(or lack of one) or growth with any LEGO set, I can tell you that LEGO sets are quite different from Baseball cards, Beanie Babies and other failed collectible markets. LEGO sets are more unique than any toy ever created IMO. They are more than a toy. If imagination could be converted into a concrete form, it would be a box of LEGO bricks. Unlike other collectibles(including toy collectibles), a LEGO set, once built, can be ripped apart and used in other creations an infinite amount of times. It never gets old. LEGO sets never lose their appeal to LEGO fans. People might move onto more mature aspects of life, but in the back of their mind, the love of the LEGO brick lies dormant, waiting for that moment later in life to sprout once again. I cannot say the same for Baseball cards and Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Dolls or any other toy that investors thought were winners. It's this love for theses little plastic bricks by parents that is passed onto their children that continues the cycle. This cycle will repeat and repeat and repeat. A kid wants an expensive LEGO set, but can't afford it. Maybe this kid years later, as an adult with extra discretionary income, buys this LEGO set at triple the MSRP because he wanted it and could afford it. Happens everyday. LEGO sets are many different things to many different people. To some it's a toy. To some it's a commodity. But to many, it's a passion that I have never encountered in such a variety of people, both young and old. I would like to think this passion for LEGO sets will prevent any bubble and LEGO secondary market crash...

[TheOrcKing]

LEGO sets are more unique than any toy ever created IMO. They are more than a toy. If imagination could be converted into a concrete form, it would be a box of LEGO bricks. Unlike other collectibles(including toy collectibles), a LEGO set, once built, can be ripped apart and used in other creations an infinite amount of times. It never gets old. LEGO sets never lose their appeal to LEGO fans. People might move onto more mature aspects of life, but in the back of their mind, the love of the LEGO brick lies dormant, waiting for that moment later in life to sprout once again. I cannot say the same for Baseball cards and Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Dolls or any other toy that investors thought were winners.

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself.

I never bought any Beanie Babies back in the day. (Thought they were ugly honestly.) The main reason those Beanie Babies could go for as much as they did back when they first came out was because eBay wasn't around. Heck at the time, what average person had a computer, let alone internet access? After eBay went online, the value of Beanie Babies went kaput. People could then find out just how many were actually made and not just take some stranger's word for it.

I have a few decks of Magic cards. Not for any kind of investment, back then I thought the whole Magic scene was cool and tried to learn how to play. In reality I just liked the artwork on the cards themselves, of which has became incredible as of late. I was almost tempted to buy a deck just for the art, something I haven't done in over ten years I believe, but didn't. It would have only took away cash that could be well spent on expanding my collection of LEGO.

Whether or not the 'bubble' will burst or even exists, I'll still collect and build LEGO just for fun regardless. I wouldn't get too worried about getting obsessed with LEGO cause even if the value goes down, you'll still have the set(s) to build.

Isn't that right, Ed?