He made his name and fortune brilliantly shorting the housing market in 2007, precrash. But now John Paulson, founder of $36 billion hedge fund firm Paulson & Co., tells investors to look at real estate, buy a house or two, and don’t hesitate to take out an extra mortgage.
At a conference last month hosted by fund of hedge funds manager EnTrust Capital, Paulson, a skeptic on the strength of the dollar, told investors he’s enthusiastic about hard assets like houses, including second homes, and gold.
Paulson, 55, knows something of the vicissitudes of the second-home market. Back in 2006 he bought a weekend home in Southampton for about $13 million. When he tried to unload it after buying an even bigger place, he got gored on his Ox Pasture Road purchase, taking a $3 million loss.
But for Paulson that was just the cost of doing business. His new weekend digs, a Southampton waterfront estate called Old Trees, cost him $41.3 million in 2008, pocket change for the man who made billions betting correctly against subprime.
