A recent CNN Money article outlined what Warren Buffett thinks about the current economy and the credit crisis. If you're looking for real estate investing information, Buffett’s opinion is certainly important to consider. Although he only speaks about real estate occasionally, Buffett’s expertise in the world of finance and wealth-building should never be overlooked.

The CNN Money article outlines a special event and interview Buffett granted recently. Many of his ideas and remarks provide the investor with some insightful real estate investing information:

1) “So wild things happen in the markets. And the markets have not gotten more rational over the years. They've become more followed. But when people panic, when fear takes over, or when greed takes over, people react just as irrationally as they have in the past.” This comment that Buffett makes directly about the current recession should be noted by real estate investors everywhere. The markets are never stable, as Buffett points out. Those who panic are not reacting rationally. Those who panic and who refuse to invest until the recession is over are not like the success stories like Buffett and investors of his ilk. Buffett and other experienced investors do not worry when others panic.

2) “I mean, you don't want a capital market that functions perfectly if you're in my business. People continue to do foolish things no matter what the regulation is, and they always will. There are significant limits to what regulation can accomplish. As a dramatic illustration, take two of the biggest accounting disasters in the past ten years: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We're talking billions and billions of dollars of misstatements at both places. Now, these are two incredibly important institutions. I mean, they accounted for over 40% of the mortgage flow a few years back. Right now I think they're up to 70%. They're quasi-governmental in nature. So the government set up an organization called OFHEO…. But if you go to OFHEO's website, you'll find that its purpose was to just watch over these two companies. OFHEO had 200 employees. Their job was simply to look at two companies and say, "Are these guys behaving like they're supposed to?" And of course what happened were two of the greatest accounting misstatements in history while these 200 people had their jobs. It's incredible. I mean, two for two!” Buffett’s views on regulating Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are quite insightful and echo what many savvy investors are already saying – regulation is not the best way to get the market out of its current woes.

3) “If It's very, very, very hard to regulate people. If I were appointed a new regulator - if you gave me 100 of the smartest people you can imagine to work for me, and every day I got the positions from the biggest institutions, all their derivative positions, all their stock positions and currency positions, I wouldn't be able to tell you how they were doing. It's very, very hard to regulate when you get into very complex instruments where you've got hundreds of counterparties.”

4) When asked “How do you get your ideas?” Buffett replied: “I just read. I read all day.” It is a piece of advice that every investor should take to heart. If a pro such as Buffett continues to read extensively in order to come up with new business ideas, then surely new investors need to read even more in order to make their businesses grow.

5) “The abuses keep coming back - and the terms got terrible and all that. You've got a banking system that's hung up with lots of that. You've got a mortgage industry that's deleveraging, and it's going to be painful.” Buffett certainly isn’t suggesting that the current recession will not cause pain, but his overall tone of optimism is great news, especially for those new to the investing game.

6) “You know, I always say you should get greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. But that's too much to expect. Of course, you shouldn't get greedy when others get greedy and fearful when others get fearful. At a minimum, try to stay away from that.” Buffett, like other smart investors, does not follow the pack. If you are reading the news and trying to do what the majority of other investors are doing, this is your wake-up call: stop it right now. People are frightened of the recession. Now is the time to break from the pack and start getting hungry for profits.

7) “The American economy is going to do fine. But it won't do fine every year and every week and every month.” Of every bit of real estate investing information Buffett gives, this is perhaps the most poignant. Whatever happens to other investors or your profits personally, the economy as a whole will bounce back. Invest wisely now and you could bounce back with it.