How much value do we place on written references, including the Greensheet and Greysheet? Not enough to bring them to tradeshows.
Yep, you read that right. We've been traveling to trade shows around the country for the last few years without any printed references. Are we crazy? Well, that's up for debate; however, we can answer the question of why we don't bring them far easier than we can begin to tackle the first question.
While consulting a printed resource from last month will often serve you better than comparing values in a book from the 1980s, it's important to note that these are intended to be a wholesale guide--not retail gospel.
We've swapped the flipping through pages for scrolling on a screen and, when necessary, find that retrieving real-time data from public sales history allows us to better understand the current market and the value spectrum of each note.
Are we saying it's time to ditch your Greensheet and Greysheet? Absolutely not. We still maintain subscriptions to each; however, remembering that any printed reference is not a golden ticket to all collectible values would be wise.