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Unemployment is rising. Mortgage rates hit record lows two weeks ago. Stocks have fallen 32% from recent highs. Oil has fallen with a thud.  Your life has changed in order to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. (**The entire episode transcript is below. You can read along as you listen.) Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD have suspended foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days. This could soon be extended to a year.  The IRS tax filing deadline moved from April 15th to July 15th. There are opportunities for you today that you’ve never considered before. Recessions are normal. They occur every 7 years on average. In three of the last five recessions, real estate values appreciated. Consider drawing against your HELOC before it’s frozen. Bill Gates’ epidemic prediction audio clip played. Stocks: the bull market died of coronavirus. I discuss my recent chats with national Mortgage Loan Officers. Good news? Shelter-in-place means you might have the time with your family that you’ve always wanted. __________________________ Resources mentioned: Coronavirus forbearance is here: Housing Wire article RE appreciated in 3 of last 5 recessions: Article & Graph Mortgage Loans: RidgeLendingGroup.com QRPs: text “QRP” in ALL CAPS to 72000 or: TotalControlFinancial.com New Construction Turnkey Property: NewConstructionTurnkey.com Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Keith’s personal Instagram: @keithweinhold   Complete episode transcript:   Welcome to Get Rich Education, I’m your host, Keith Weinhold. As the pandemic unfolds, how do you best position yourself as an investor to be profitable and mitigate loss?    We’re talking about the real estate market, the stock market, and specific, actionable things that you can do for your family and your real estate. Today, on Get Rich Education. _________________________ Welcome to Get Rich Education, I’m your host, Keith Weinhold and no matter where you’re listening to us - any of the 188 nations - your life has changed … due to the pandemic.    Just when you learned to replace your handshake with an elbow bump, now you can't do either one.   Yes, your life looks different now. We are here in the social distancing era.   With major events all cancelled and the closure of businesses & schools, & entertainment venues; it is clear that the global efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus is an unprecedented experience for you and I.   With people needing to stay home, it creates some new ways of socialization.    For my haircut this week, I don’t think I’m going to go out to get it. I’m hoping that my wife can cut my hair at home.     I can’t go to the gym. Thank goodness that I have a home gym - modest as it is. This is literally life-changing - altering the patterns and habits of you & I’s daily life.   You might see more of your spouse now. You might be homeschooling your kid now.   This is an emotional process for you and I - your relationships with people & things have changed.   You’re now more likely to be listening to me from home rather than out & about - not from work.    But wait. Now, for you, maybe work ... is ... home. Kinda.   If you’re working from home, you’re now ...   ... about to find out which meetings really could have instead been ... an email.   Yes, it's simply a strange time to be a human being.   The pandemic has stirred up more uncertainty than just social faux pas and awkwardness.   It's created a breathtaking 32% stock market drop - more on that later. The slowing economy means that oil prices have fallen with a resounding thud. Mortgage rates hit record lows two weeks ago.   The combination of those things might make you, the REAL ESTATE investor, giddy with your predicament.   You might even have - what feels like - an extended adult Spring Break at home with your family.   But the larger economic slowdown can ensnare everyone - yes, the real estate investor too. Some help is on the way.   Just last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they are suspending foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days - so we’re talking about a lot of conventional loans there.    HUD is doing the same thing. HUD basically means FHA loans.   So I guess that property owners don’t have to pay their mortgages and tenants don’t have to pay their rent for a little while either.   That was followed by the state of New York declaring that certain borrowers in the state could forgo their mortgage payments for up to 90 days.   And there’s just so much NEWS about payment forgiveness and everything else related to the economy and the pandemic that it can be difficult to keep up.    I’ll tell you, I’ve had to scramble - more than normal this week - to pull together the more relevant stories that affect you - because so much is changing so fast.   Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said just last Friday - three days ago - that the deadline for Americans to file their taxes would be pushed back from April 15 to July 15.    That’s got to be welcome news!   In fact, Mnuchin tweeted: "All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.”    That’s what he said. That’s a 90-day extension. Some relief from the IRS for you.   Now, how long will this kind of alternate society that we’ve now reluctantly formed linger on?    How long will it last?    Self-isolation and playing the ol’ Risk board game or Battleship with your kids might be kinda cool at first - but it gets a little old after a while.    It really gets old once you find that your kid is improving at chess faster than you and he’s starting to beat you.    Well, no one really knows. No one in the world knows how long it’ll last.    So therefore, it’s hard to know whether people are overreacting or underreacting to the news. It’s really hard to know.    Will this last one month? Six months? Or even longer?    The best, most trusted source, I know of thinks that this will probably be with us … through June. Yeah, that’s three more months.   Now, it might peak before that time, but who knows? And a lot of forecasts change … because, again … there are a lot of unknowns here.    But there are a few things that I do know. So let’s think about what we do know.   There will always BE an economy - even if things got far worse.    There will always be an economy as long as there’s a civilization.    Sheesh, there’s an economy in Leavenworth - a maximum security prison.    When this thing ends, if you’ve got a friend or a tenant or yourself that’s been laid off - you’re probably going to return to your job.    But some people might never return to their job. You might see this - as an opportunity.   If you have - or have had - a job that you’re not in love with - this could give you time to find out what you’re good at & what you like doing rather than working for a paycheck.   Use this time to ultimately find out what you want. Then learn some new skills at the Khan Academy online - or somewhere else. See this as an opportunity.   There’s an old saying. If your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession. If you lose your job, it’s a depression.    And more people are probably thinking about that today ...   But recessions are indeed - a frequent occurrence in the modern economy. This 11 year economic expansion, was an all-time American record.   In response to the pandemic, The Fed is effectively printing tens of billions of dollars - and more - to help keep banks liquid.   This is a process … that devalues the dollar. This is inflationary - which is good for borrowers long-term, and this dollar printing makes investors scurry for real assets that can hold their value.    Yes, real things that can’t be inflated away with profligate monetary policy. I’m talking about assets like water, and timber, and real estate - especially residential real estate.   Now, if for any reason, your income is disrupted, either because you’re out of work or your tenant is having trouble making rent payments ...   If you're losing income and must play defense, and you’re a homeowner, you might have something to work with. Relief can come from your Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC). You can make withdrawals for emergencies.  Sure - I’ve been talking for years here about how if you’ve got excess equity in your home, you can originate a HELOC. Since home equity is unsafe, and illiquid, and it’s rate of return is always zero, you can use that excess equity in your home. MAKE it liquid. The HELOC can come in the form of a second mortgage. At last check, on a primary residence, you could get an 80% combined loan-to-value ratio HELOC. How that works is if you have a $500K home, you could have $400K of debt against it. That’s the 80%. So then if currently, your home has a $300K loan balance, you can potentially get a HELOC second mortgage for another $100K.  OK … your $300K first mortgage plus $100K HELOC has a sum of $400K - which is 80% of your home’s value. So now, you’ve got $100K out of your home.  The way that this $100K HELOC works is that your interest rate generally follows the Federal Funds Rate - which the Fed has essentially dropped to 0%.  Now, you’ll pay a margin on top of the Fed Funds Rate - but HELOC rates are really low now.  Their interest is often tax deductible - and you can spend the HELOC funds on anything at all.  You also have the flexibility of making interest-only payments on the HELOC - or paying back extra toward the principal if you prefer. Nice option there.  And I’ve gone deep on how HELOCs work on prior shows, so I won’t do that here.  But here’s the message if you think that you need some - or want some - liquidity.  Originate your HELOC and consider drawing against it - which means pulling the money out - before the bank FREEZES withdrawals from your HELOC funds.  Look, here’s what happened during the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Homes were losing value then, and banks flash-froze HELOCs. It happ