Affordable Housing

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Error 404, Apr 16, 2004.

  1. You young single guys:

    Here's the story. I will be buying a second home with my partner in the area of one of our business interests. I have not yet seen the place (places...still open to which model).

    Obviously, since I cannot be there much during the year because I have a wife and kids (who we hardly see), and my partner is in the same boat (except he sees his kid all the time...he's only 12), we figured renting the place out would be a good idea.

    I will set up a trading room in the house for when I am there. I could set up additional stations....maybe make one room into a full blown 6-8 seat trading room. There will be at least two other bedrooms available full time.

    I expect to use the house no more than 2 or 3 weeks a year and would do my best to not get in the way of any tenants. If it works out that I WOULD be in the way, I would just stay in a hotel the few times a year I am required to be in the area. This would not bother me....the house would be an investment for us, and a possible retirement/vacation home in the not too distant future (but not quite yet...at least another 5 years or so.

    As for the neighborhood.....it's a BEAUTY. But...really....for single guys only. I don't care if you have a girlfriend staying with you. I just don't want any married guys, 'cause I do not want to contribute to the inevitable divorces that will result from living in this neighborhood. No joke!

    I will be leaving this next Tuesday (April 20) and returning late night May 12...

    Anyone who is interested in being a tenant, let me know. Anyone who is interested in buying a ton of house for the money....check out the website.

    My partner just got back last week, saw the place, and insisted I go with him to see it for myself and write a check. We were going anyway to the area, but this house thing is new to me. As Tom Cruise said in "Risky Business" .."sometimes you just gotta say 'what the fuck'"

    http://www.homeinpark.com/html/main.html


    Peace,
    :)RS
     
  2. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    F*cking Thailand? LOL. I thought it was going to be in West Palm. Damn. I might have been interested in South Florida. RS, have you thought about setting up a house down there and let traders come down and stay there for a day, week, month however long. It might be worth the cost. A lot of guys from ET would probably love to come down whenever there is space just to chill out. You could have computer stations set up with broadband connections, sat TV, some waverunners. You might make a nice buck doing that. I know a lot of people that might be interested.
     
  3. Mav, that is actually not a bad idea. I will give it some serious thought....talk to some guys and see if we can come up with enough dough and figure out if there is a way to make it feasible. (my instincts are no....very expensive...especially in a place you can use wave-runners). But maybe a "Trader's Hotel By the Sea" would have enough appeal. Mav, how much you have to invest in a multi - million $ project? Maybe I should talk to The Donald and see if he has any interest in infesting Mara Largo with some degenerate traders:)

    Mav, if you are interested in trading prop, I have a seat for you any time. You need to be good to go with a series 7, and I would imagine a 63. (And a 55 if you want to trade nasdaq stocks).

    But you may be able to trade minis and other derivatives without that....I am not sure and can't find out now since it is the weekend. If you (or anyone) is interested, PM me. Great central Boca location. Sorry I can't help with housing though:(.

    Meanwhile, if I were your age and single, I would not scoff at Thailand at all!!!!! Cheap housing, internet connection costs about double what it is here, but sharing with routers, it would work. Cost of living is LOW LOW LOW, and the WOMEN???? Ask ANYONE who has been there. They do NOT look like other Asian women (I don't know why ...but they are almost all beautiful). And the Thai people are the friendliest people I have ever known anywhere. And Chaing Mai is a beautiful place. Cool and pleasant (cool for a place not far from the equator). For less than $200 rt, you can to to Phuket to the most beautiful beaches you would ever want to see. Where a hotel room on the beach costs about $30 a night (for a NICE room). Bangkok is a $150 rt flight if you have a jones for a little big city action (bigger than NYC). Hotel rooms in Bangkok are any price you can imagine. I stayed at the Narai last time (nice...not the Drake, but nice) for less than $30 a night including a breakfast buffet that puts Vegas to shame (the smell of mackerel early in the morning is a bit intense, but they have everything from bacon and eggs to sushi...all you can eat).

    Peace,
    :)RS
     
  4. Good point:) LOL

    Peace,
    :)RS
     
  5. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    No, I am running numbers in my head and they are adding up very nicely. Let me work through the math on here now. Let's take a 4 bedroom/4 bath house. It doesn't need to be on the ocean, it can be on the canal. Let's say you put 4 guys to a room. Yes, I know it's very college like but hey, this is about male bonding right? So you have 4 guys to a room and each room has a bathroom. Now, let say you charged $30 a day. So that would be $900 a month per person. Now you can put 16 people at one time in this house lets say. Let's round it up to $33 so say $1000 a month per person. Now keep in mind I am assuming 100% occupancy. So in theory, you could take in 16k a month right? Now on avg, for every 100k in house, it cost about $800 in mortgage payment. So for 16k a month you could buy a home worth about 2 million. It's actually a little less then that because interest is factored into that 800 number but you get the idea. Now a 1.5 million to 2 million dollar home is pretty nice. But you don't even need a home that nice. I mean come on, for 800k to a million you can get a pretty sweet house. So that leaves you with 8k a month in mortgage payments and your taking in 16k a month in cash flow. Now you have to add in utilities and other things on the side like the broadband stuff but that won't be that much.

    Now think about this, you can also provide other products and services and mark them up as well i.e providing a fully stocked kitchen, beer, wave runner rentals, etc. Or you can just have everyone pay for whatever they want on their own. But there certainly is enough extra money to not only make a profit each month but to have a pretty valuable asset appreciating for you. I don't know, it looks pretty attractive. I think a lot of guys would do it just to get the chance to get away for a day or week or whatever, meet other traders, unwind, maybe even see how other guys trade and learn a thing or two.

    As far as me trading prop, I trade with a professional firm right now and have a great setup. I don't trade futures, just equity options and the underlying. I have all my licenses too.
     
  6. Sounds good "on paper". Wish I knew more about the hotel business:).

    Might be some zoning problems. But Mav, where there is a good idea, there is always money available.

    Put together a REAL business plan (forget 4 guys to a room...houses down here do have drywall...not just exposed cinderblock walls and iron bar doors...well there are some places, but you can't trade from them. LOL)

    But maybe you are onto something. Maybe it would be even more feasible somewhere in the Bahamas.

    As far as Thailand.....check out the airfares. It is so cheap to get there (although it takes forever). But warm weather is one thing. Experiencing a different culture has a lot of attraction for a lot of us.

    When I got married in 1978, we planned on going to Europe for our honeymoon. (We did). But my best friend (and college room mate) had just spent over two years travelling the world. He said before our wedding that we should forget Europe and go to Bali. At that time, it was very expensive to travel that far. But he said once we got there, it would cost us next to nothing, so the whole deal would be no more than going to Europe.

    He made a comment that I still remember today. He said that Europe was the same as the US. That we wouldn't experience anything different. His memorable comment was that "they just spell the words differently".

    Well we enjoyed Europe. We travelled around in a rented car for a month. Saw all the great museums. Skied in Chamonix and Innsbruck (Igls). But we had just moved to NY from Aspen. So museums were nothing unique, and the skiing in the Alps was not as good as it was in Colorado. (not even close).

    We never regretted going. But when I went to Asia in September, I appreciated my friend's comment from 25 years earlier. I had been in Asia very briefly in 1970 as a soldier. It was the most miserable experience of my life. But being there as a "tourist" in September was a whole different thing. I can't wait until next week to go again. And now that we have a reason for going (a business reason), I look forward to going several times a year.

    I did not know you traded "prop". Since you do, I can't think of any firms that don't have offices down here. All you need is a 63, and I don't see why you couldn't drop down pretty much whenever you wanted. If you need a place to stay, if it isn't during a school vacation, I may be able to put up with you for a few days. In any event I can definitely scope out places for you.

    Peace,
    :)RS
     
  7. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    Well, the problem with Thailand is the long flight. Guys would have to move there. And for a lot of people, they don't want to be that far away from their friends and family. Florida or even the Bahamas is good because it is so easy to get there that guys could come and go all the time. The experience would be great on so many different levels. One, obviously coming down for the warm weather and the water, but also just for the fun. Being around other traders, learning from other traders, and just relaxing.

    As far Europe goes, I don't know about Europe being like the US. Granted I haven't been all over Europe, but Europe is very unique and different then the US. I think it's incredibly beautiful and if you are a history buff, there is more to see and do there then you could ever do in a lifetime. I'm sure Asia is nice too but I wouldn't be so quick to downplay Europe.

    In fact, you could set up a place in Europe too. Hell, you could start a franchise and set up these little Trader houses all over the world. LOL. Just pick really cool places and I bet you could keep them occupied all year along. I better start writing these ideas down, I might be on to something here. LOL.
     
  8. Well, maybe it would be easier than you think. All you would need to do is make some kind of deal with one or two international hotel chains. Have some rooms set up with trading stations.

    I did not mean to "downplay" Europe at all. All I meant to say is that Asia far different. Europe is indeed beautiful and the sense of history compared to the US is amazing. You see houses and buildings that are still in use that were built hundreds of years before Columbus sailed. (Same is true in Asia, and the Middle East...and I suppose Africa and S. America too, though I have never been to either of those places).

    Yes, the trip is long and uncomfortable (although even in coach, they give you unlimited booze). But not a place to go for a few days. I was thinking it would be perfect for guys that wanted to spend 3 months or more in a different culture. Not just a weekend to warm up. And again.....OH MY THOSE THAI WOMEN!!!!! :)

    Peace,
    :)RS
     
  9. C'mon, you know RS7 is the Queen of international trading. Search these pages for his exploits in Monaco; careful though, RS7's geography is a little hazy.

    Say, maybe its just a property next door to a Thai joint in W Palm?:D
     
    #10     Apr 16, 2004