BG2008

When can I buy into this partial RE tech start up?

Gregmal, We know you like MSG. You don't have to tout it every minute. JK

The real tech zillionaire here!

Seriously, what a bunch of chumps!

I am probably closer to Gregmal with private plus public exposure. 30 year fixed rates are hard to pass on. If rates go a lot higher, I guess I am committed to owning these assets for 30 years until they are fully paid off. But I am probably too green and do not know what I am doing. I have never invested in a rising rate environment. Maybe owning residential RE is just owning a piece of the Maslow's hierarchy on the bottom called "shelter" and if you own 3 units, you basically have 3 families paying you 1/3 of their paycheck for eternity. What is that worth? Your mortgage cost is fixed until it is paid off. Rent goes up over time along with property taxes and operating expenses. On the private side, I sometimes just think that I have a few families who will always pay me 1/3 of their income. I don't know what I am doing. I think that's a reasonable way of thinking about it.

Much better than being on the other side of a loan from Brookfield or Oaktree

I sound really preachy. But I have gone through the gamut of bulking up for Football, starving for wrestling, then losing a bunch, then gaining a bunch due to working from home, and then discovering IF, Keto, and generally eating low carb. I know I am as annoying as a know-it-all. I would just add to read the labels on package food. Pay attention to anything that spikes insulin and how your body respond to it. I have come off the wagon a bit lately and starting eating dessert with my kids. But the discipline developed through IF and Keto means that my insulin is super sensitive. I can eat quite a bit of sweets and my body just handles it. That would not have been the case 5-10 years ago when I drank a lot of diet soda and ate much more carbs. I would be in a food coma. I don't think I have been in a food coma lately. Calories in and calories out isn't everything. Just like investing, some calories (or earnings) are higher quality than others, i.e. berries, nuts, olive and avocado oil, fish, etc. You know the deal. I like to eat peanut butter with my berries. Yay, Costco! Watermelon is surprisingly a low carb food despite being so sweet. Rice, noodles, pasta, bread are not quite that good for you despite it being on the bottom of the food pyramid. I think if Americans just incorporated fasting, we can probably save a ton in healthcare spend. But the insulin spikes and the hunger pans and the Pavlovian conditioning of reaching into a bag of chips or watching TV and snacking are hard to break. Trust me, when food companies talk about innovation and R&D, they spend a ton of money on making snacks addictive and hard to put down. Okay, here goes my tin hat conspiracy theory again. Sorry.

Buffet talks about the healthcare industry as the tapeworm of the US. How we spend 18% on healthcare cost. Have we looked in the mirror at ourselves and look at our BMIs? The average American BMI is 26.6. The average Singaporean BMI is probably a lot lower. Now that I am an annoying Keto person, I do think that all the additive, sugar, and sugar substitutes do cause a lot of craving Americans can really benefit from eating Paleo, Keto, Whole 360 and implementing fasting occasionally. Our national health cost will probably go down quite a bit.

Qurate would like to have a word

Look into aggregate business, Vulcan and Martin Marietta. They set the price but demand is up to the market. Vulcan increased price for rock, sand, and gravel after the GFC when industry volume fell 40%

Gregmal always has some of the best looks on various situations.

Just stating a fact. I am Switzerland on SRG. No position.

Seritage has been written up on VIC 7 different times since 2015 with starting prices in the high 30s low 40s. 5 of these are long thesis and 2 are short.

Pretty strong price movement last few days. Any news?

Insurance Costs Threaten Florida Real-Estate Boom https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurance-costs-threaten-florida-real-estate-boom-11619343002 MIAMI—Florida’s property-insurance market is in trouble, as mounting carrier losses and rising premiums threaten the state’s booming real-estate market, according to insurance executives and industry analysts. Longtime homeowners are getting socked with double-digit rate increases or notices that their policies won’t be renewed. Out-of-state home buyers who have flocked to Florida during the pandemic are experiencing sticker shock. Insurers that are swimming in red ink are cutting back coverage in certain geographic areas to shore up their finances.