Just months before the U.S. housing market started to crash, beginning the downward spiral that sent the globe on the road to the massive 2008 financial crisis, Donald Trump was advising Trump University students that he didn't think there was a bubble in the real estate market.
The comments from Trump in an October 2006 audiobook were one of numerous times Trump said through Trump University that he didn't think there was a housing bubble. In another Trump University audiobook released earlier that year, Trump said to take talk of real estate bubble talk with a "pinch of salt." And, in an September 2005 blog post Trump, said to dismiss predictions of a housing collapse as "doom and gloom."
CNN reported Thursday on one of the same audiobooks Trump expressed a wish the real estate market would crash because it would be profitable for him.
"There's been a lot of talk in recent months about a so-called real estate bubble, that kind of talk can scare you off real estate and cut you out of some great opportunities. So is it true? Is the real estate market about to crash," said Trump in the 2006 program Bubble-Proof Real Estate Investing: Wealth-Building Strategies for Uncertain Times.
"The fact is nobody knows the future, and for sure, all good things come to an end at some time or another. There can be wars, terrorist attacks, flu pandemics, government screw ups and we have plenty of them. Anything can send prices spiraling down. So if you're for 100% guarantee, you best stay out of real estate or any kind of investment for that matter."
Still, Trump said, he agreed with the Trump University presenters, who said said to talk talk of a bubble with a "pinch of salt."
"At the same time I agree with three presenters of this program — Dolf De Roos, Gary Eldred, and Curtis Oakes — I picked them to teach this course because they are all masterful investors," said Trump. "They are not just talking heads or book smart academics, they have decades of hands on experience and all three of them take the bubble talk with a pinch of salt. Of course, they know that prices can go down as well as up but they also know that real estate is one of the most resilient, profitable business arenas anywhere. What these three have to teach you can make the difference between wealth and poverty."
In another audiobook, How to Build a Fortune: Your Plan for Success From the World's Most Famous Businessman, released in October 2006, Trump said he again didn't believe there was a bubble.
"If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know, you can make a lot of money. At the same time I don't think that will happen," said Trump. "If interest rates stay fairly low, if the dollars stays pretty much where it is or even goes a little higher, but basically if you have a weak dollar, there is just tremendous amounts of money pouring in, so I don't think that is going to happen. I'm not a believer that the interest market, that the real estate market is going to take a big hit."
In 2015, Trump claimed in a National Geographic special The 2000s to have spotted the bubble.
"I actually spotted the property bubble, I would tell people don't buy a house now too expensive," said Trump. "It's going up too much."
