New Member from NYC (and, later, LA)

[John Nelson]

I currently live in Hoboken (07030), across the Hudson from Manhattan (10010). However, I'll be moving to LA at the end of the year. (I do not like LA. But, my girlfriend has an amazing opportunity, and I generally take jobs with remote work.)

I have a highly quantitate background. I'll finish my Ph.D. in Computational Social Science later this year. Basically, I build computer models of social systems. (Real estate markets and economies in general, count.) I'm hoping to apply that type of thinking to real estate, eventually. But, for the time being I'll be doing more traditional statistical analyses, albeit with an emphasis on the Bayesian.

For the non-mathematically inclined, my stuff is still relevant to you. Feynman once said, "If you can't explain it to your grandmother, you don't understand it." (Okay, he didn't actually say that, but people give him credit for it.) I think there's a lot of truth in that quote, and I'm trying to learn to write that way. So please, if my explanations are poor, call me out on it!

I'm interested in real estate for two reasons.

First, I'm driven to understand things, almost pathologically. And, I think real estate is terribly useful toehold to leverage in understanding economies. It seems so central, or a least a good place to start.

Second, I like money. I know that sounds a bit odd for a Ph.D. candidate to say. But, a Ph.D. education is a wonderful, socially acceptable way to say, "no, I want to spend a ridiculous amount of time learning more, for a while, before getting a 'real' job." I'm near the point of letting slip my academic (financial) shackles, so it's time for real income.

Anyways, happy to be here, folks.