The first real estate investment I made was a rehab here in Stephenville. I made a lot of mistakes, but I also did some things few experienced investor can fathom. I didn’t put down any earnest money to get the contract signed. I started repairs before we closed. I negotiated a price well below asking. Asking price was $20,000 and I got it for $12,000. It was my lack of knowledge of what was expected which allowed me to proceed without knowing I was getting anything special.

It seems Mart Laar reformed Estonia based on the impression that Western governments had already instituted reforms similar to those described in Milton Friedman’s book Free to Choose. He didn’t immediately know that he was blazing new trails.

Cafe Hayek had an entry earlier this month on Tierney on Estonia, the Baltic Tiger. Specifically, it was an excerpt from a column by John Tierney on Estonia and Mart Laar.