I think he was joking. To only be up 10% in a hedge fund account and be up 87% in “another” account. I think he was throwing a little shade towards the investment community while subtly letting us know he has an 87% return this year on his personal trading account. Well done, JB.

 

I'm sure he was, but it's fun to play along. We have a few pilots putting together real estate syndications, running a hedge fund isn't much of a step from there.

There are some interesting side hustles, especially when you get into the WB categories. One FO I ran into was the VP of Sales for a software company. He took Friday afternoons off and flew a few 3 day Europe trips each month. I've run into several mortgage brokers, one or two that own car dealerships, a couple aspiring politicians, a few attorneys, a vineyard owner and lots of real estate investors.

 

Has anyone rented their property through AirBnB? Pros/Cons for vacation locations on part time basis? Thanks!

 

I haven’t, they can be very lucrative but also a pain if you don’t have someone to do the cleaning and organizing for you.

I’ve been researching, but I think I’ll stay out of it.

 

I believe there was an alternate to Airbnb that is suppose to be way better. And be careful of what state you are considering, seen many issues with state of CA.

 

Pros - Good ROI for certain properties. Buy the right ones and you make some good coin.

Cons - Many HOAs are taking a stand against short term rentals. One change to the DCCRs and you are out of business. We just voted to eliminate short term rentals (except sale, leaseback) in our neighborhood after the lone VRBO in our subdivision drew some unwanted attention. Some cities and municipalities are also adding restrictions and regulations on short term rentals. DYODD on pending legislation before making any big financial commitments.

Converting huge McMansions into assisted living facilities was a hot niche a few months ago too. Buy a big old house, hire a nurse and cook for daily visits and charge premium rents. I'm glad I dodged that bullet...

 

I agree, it is interesting to see what others are doing on the side. I always wanted to own rental properties when I was younger. I never had the money at the regionals, but when I got hired at Delta, I started saving for my first investment, but then 9/11 hit right when I got off probation. I never made enough money while furloughed to spare some on a rental. By the time I returned, I had met my wife and we started a family. I ended up getting into trading currencies and futures, which led to automated trading. Last night I wrote a mean reversion program for certain futures markets. (It was actually a couple modifications to a strategy I wrote a couple weeks ago to improve the position exits and make a more reliable stop loss.). It’s been fun, and it’s nice to have a plan B. I admire those of you that have large positions of real estate and know you’ll experience a level of wealth in retirement most could only dream of. I’m hoping to be there too, but I’m traveling a different path.

Good luck to you. Although you don’t need it. (“Losers are always whining about luck, winners go home and f##& the prom queen!”)

 

Some cities are getting wise to it as well, because it impacts hotels, which are massively taxed for revenue.

Some towns are imposing very stiff fees on leases less than a few weeks. You can try to dodge it, but it only takes one cranky neighbor to drop dime to the man and now you’re in a world of hurt.

 

I actually stumbled into real estate on accident. I bought a duplex to cheapen my expenses because I saw orders drying up and I had thrown my apps in at the regionals. Going from 10 yr O-3 to $21/hr makes you evaluate your spending lol. Luck/timing worked out that a buddy wanted to rent my current house (for 2 yesrs) as I was about to buy the duplex. 8 years later, they're both rentals for me. Very fortunate to have been able to make it work...better lucky than good!

Dabbled in the market stuff a few years ago, fun but I just didn't find the right niche. Starting think about trying it again. Whats platform do you use?

 

I just switched to TradeStation. It is the best move I’ve ever made. They use Easylanguage, for their programming. It’s easy to learn after a 5 hour online course. I used to use Ninjatrader as an interface to my broker. It was good but if I ever had an idea for an automated system, I had to hire a programmer, pay money, and hope that it was profitable. TradeStation is an all in one broker, platform that’s easy to use.