73 Reds

No worries; I'm not right (or any) wing. But unless you feel that no issues exist at all, the first move is necessary. And if you truly believe the US "has nothing" for Canada, would Canadians prefer the protection of, and to border Mexico or any other country?

Negotiating 101: Get the other side's attention. Why do you think it ends there?

<<as I said, I agree that the US has legitimate grievances with the rest of the world. There are many ways to settle those grievances>> @Viking, I am genuinely interested in some of those ways. I don't think asking nicely works anymore. Try to understand that Trump is doing largely what his electorate wants. He ran first and foremost on US strength. He and his followers believe that once adequate strength is achieved a lot of good both domestic and world-wide will come of it. What I don't understand is why so many accuse Trump of perpetual lies except that when it comes to tariffs they are all-in Trump believers.

Yeah, just like the judicious use of leverage is the key to successful financial investing, options are the secret sauce of real estate investing.

Perhaps a better alternative is a $100k option to purchase the property by year's end. If things are looking iffy on your part you can always try to assign the option to another buyer for a profit, break even or smaller loss than simply losing your entire down payment. Otherwise at least insist on an assignable purchase/sales contract.

@Viking, I mostly agree with a few caveats. We live in a society focused on instant gratification, news and results. Work like yours with Fairfax goes largely unnoticed (except on this forum) because it required patience and time for the story to play out. All of "The sky is falling in" crowd, whether in the US., Canada or anywhere else seems to ignore the fact that nothing Trump is doing now is irreversible. Much of Trump's agenda is indeed like a science experiment. In order to perform an experiment you've got to try something new. Voters in the US voted for that. I have yet to see Trump do anything since inauguration day that he didn't campaign on and promise to do. Yet even here folks seem overly surprised, even shocked when it happens. Much of the "science experiment" takes a lot longer than a matter of weeks before any conclusions can be drawn. Yet the same folks continue to voice the same complaints without a bit of evidence whether some of these new policies will ultimately be effective and most importantly, satisfactory to the folks who voted for such changes. No one ever suggested that some of these changes would be universally liked by our friends and neighbors, nor would they be permanent once the objectives for such changes have been met. Frankly, as a US citizen I think most of the "ends" are admirable, while the means can be quite bumpy or worse. I don't know any better than you do whether the science experiment will be successful but I did vote for change and like you, will watch with an eye toward the future but well beyond tomorrow or next week before passing judgment.

Me too. But anyone who follows our favorite Morningstar analyst probably sold because y/y earnings were down. He's probably congratulating himself and cuing up another piece on why FFH has no moat.

Because in the eyes of many he presents better alternatives? To those who oppose him do you oppose his policies or methods, or both? Did you prefer what was the status quo? Like him or hate him, it is refreshing for a(ny) politician to come up with new ideas. They all don't have to work. Presidential elections are binary; your friend obviously didn't like where we were and prefers to try a different approach. He also probably focuses on policy and not the person, which we would all probably be better off doing.

+1. Anyone here who would not be happy with such a 10-year return has never lived through a prolonged downturn. Not talking about the onset of Covid which was a mere blip on the radar or some prior recessionary drawdowns which were over before the recession was even evident. When broad markets go down - and stay down 30%, 40% or more, you'll understand. It is going to happen, the only question is when.

Yeah, they just seem to be doing everything right. It's not often you can say that about any stock. Hope it continues.

This is one of the issues Viking speaks of quite often; if the long term future of the company is bright, why not own it now? If you wait for a significant price drop that may not happen, you may never own the stock. The issue is whether the stock is worth owning at its current price.

Yeah, I literally grew up in the real estate business and as an older teenager worked part-time and summers as a rental agent/property manager for a Section 8 apartment community. Talk about an education; drugs, prostitution and criminal activity were rampant throughout the complex and the surrounding community. Repairs only lasted for days or weeks and were like band aids. No sooner was one apartment rented than two needed to file for evictions. There were always good-hearted families trying hard to overcome the conditions but it was far from easy and most left when they could. Tenant turnover was very high but there were always new tenants who "qualfied" as soon as an apartment went vacant and could be patched up.

These were enforceable HUD guidelines. As a private landlord, my written lease always provides for permanent occupancy only by those tenants identified in the lease agreement.

There were (surely still are ) guidelines as to the maximum number of residents who can occupy a home with xx bedrooms and xx baths.

@gfp many years ago I served as a Hearing Officer for HUD cases involving disputes between property owners and Section 8 tenants. The number one issue by far was too many residents occupying a single residence, due in no small part to the subsidies each resident was receiving. The tenants were experts at gaming a system in which the Govt. had no chance of forcing compliance. Like you, the lesson learned was Section 8 housing was not worth the headaches, as a property owner. The flipside is, there is a lot of money to be made but you need the right mental framework and a full time maintenance staff.

So basically.... everyone needs to go. Got any replacements in mind?

Does art have maintenance costs?

IMO, what you pay for a residence should be an afterthought relative to your overall financial situation. No matter where you are in life, it should probably not be viewed as an investment and the cost should not negatively affect any other aspects of your life.

Have you thought about what the new unit will cost you each year over and above the costs associated with your current residence and the opportunity cost of those additional yearly expenses?

If you have to think about it, it's probably not worth it.

Do you judge the performance of all the stocks you buy after only 40 days? (No answer required).

LOL, you guys actually had a thread on SHLD? What was there to argue about? Not trying to reopen old wounds - just curious.

No argument here Mr. Ambassador, now go sell your plan to the powers that be!

Yeah, selling options is best done in a retirement (deferred or nontaxable) account. I rarely buy options (buying great stocks is hard enough, timing the buys is that much harder) but one combination sometimes works - buying a LEAPs option and selling short-dated "covered" call options against your LEAPs position. This can work particularly well with high priced stocks

When it comes to options, I don't think any "strategy" is terribly effective. Rather, options may be used to take advantage of specific situations, i.e., one-time mispricing, high volatility, desire to enter or exit an equity position, etc...