All Forum Posts by: James Hamling

That attitude, your limiting beliefs Sam, is why your a ragging failure. 

And will continue as that failure, no matter how "perfect" things ever are. 

It's a you issue Sam, not a market thing. Until you grow up and realize this, well, your gonna have no shortage of content for your marter complex. 

Come down off the cross, build a bridge with the wood, and get-over-it........

Success and victories are MADE, never discovered. 

 V.G you gotta keep in mind the vast majority of people will say "what's a Delta?". 

I urge everyone DONT sell put's until you thoroughly understand what your doing. 

I just had 1 guy today in trading group talking about selling NVDA 200 strike Put for sept..... Sure the premium is epic but so is the flippin risk. 200, Sept, madness. UNLESS your doing it NOT expecting 200 but instead premium harvesting focusing around E.R.. But he wasn't, he was legit thinking 200+ by Sept because he's got tunnel vision of the last days charts. 

Smart move.... 

How are you structuring your offers? Curious why there getting rejected. 

I get best response with my A-B-C offers. 

I recap the situation, my understanding of their true desire, and I then present; 

- Cash offer as-is where is, not lifting a single finger "done-deal" quick close done n over. 

- Max$ offer, how we get there, the time, the JV of it all, the reno $, marketing $ yada-yada, and the max we can get if all goes perfectly to plan AND the downside reality of what it could be net at end of day in a conservative pessimistic real-world potential.

- And the terms offer. 

8:10 say "ah, ok, so, what is this terms thing again, I don't really understand". And when you get that response 8:10 accept it after working through all the details and explanation of it all as long as your really good at detailing and explaining it all and not doing anything shady. 

The key to the explaining is being detailed and simplified at same time. Making it easily comprehensible for them. Putting it in terms or concepts they already well understand. I often compare it with there banking situation. 

That I can go to the bank, get the $, and the bank pays them. To do that, the bank wants to make $ so I am paying the bank some profits every month called interest. OR, in this, we can cut-out the middle person and it's just them and me directly, and I instead pay them that profit/interest.      Because ironically if they bank at the same bank, the $ the bank is giving me is in a way, the same $ I would be giving them. So instead of both of us paying the bank, we can work together directly and have no middle person fee's. 

People tend to get that very readily. And ask about the details of what-if scenarios. I remind them of the paperwork they signed when they bought the home, and say we do the exact same. So all the same contracts the bank had with them before for the what-if's, we will have the exact same, contracts covering every detail and what-if. 

Then say would you like to see them? If they say yes, it's a done-deal. You pull them out, and walk through the example paperwork. And while I do that, I am literally filling in our details. And at end, were ready to sign. 

If they hesitate to sign, I ask if it's just because they want to get it double checked to make sure it's all legit. They say yes and I say great, right here you have ____ days to get attorney review. If for any reason you want out, that's it, your out, that simple. 

If they still want time to "think it over" I say sure but keep in mind, I will do the same thinking it over and if anything changes in that time, the offer will change too. But feel free, take whatever time you want, I just want to be upfront this is what I can do today with all that I know today, we have no idea what tomorrow, next week or month will bring so who knows, right, we will see as things come. 

It's honest, right. 

I don't push at all, 0 push. I give it to em real. If you want as-is cash there is 1 price, if work with me on terms it has added value and mitigates some of my risks. If you want to JV for max retail, it's gonna cost time & $, and there is uncertainty of what market will be in the future.

I find people really connect with the open honesty and no BS. Even when it's less then ideal realities, they appreciate the integrity. And it earns respect. 

In general, now is not the time nor market for the novice to play in any options OTHER THAN selling covered calls, seriously. 

It's a wildly volatile time in the market, in exceptionally dangerous ways for the novice. What I mean by that is the potential x-factors, they bring potential for BIG swings. So the risks are not just loosing some $, the risks very much-so are of blowing up ones account, reaping huge losses depending on how one is playing options. 

Selling covered calls is the only safe-ish way to dip toes in that pond. And even then you can blow up an account if your using leverage on your held positions. 

There is 2 very real major factors out there, each facilitating BIG potential moves. A melt-up, and a roll-over. Nobody truly knows exactly which will appear, all the ingredients are present for either. Political winds can shift on a dime and they have major influence on which of these come to pass. 

My opinion for the novice is an echo of Warren Buffets; to acquire shares in a good ETF such as JEPQ, VOO, SCHD, or even QQQ. To amplify returns sell covered calls 3'ish months out but always do them at a profitable strike price, if the market dips and you can't then you just hold-tight and wait. 

Time IN beats timing the market when have any reasonable length of time to invest. 

What V.G and I are talking about, it's Advanced too Expert level stuff. It requires excellent skills in analysis of the companies themselves, the economics domestically and globally, as well as very strong comprehension of the trends and historical actions of equity funds because there is seasons to things and times of year where selling is more prevalent and buying is more prevalent.  

My other modifications from The Oracle of Omaha's advice is diversification via "O" and "GLD". Via holding just the 3 of JEPQ, O and GLD a person achieves a good level of diversification. You don't have to hold 10, 15, 20+ holdings to get good diversification, just the right few. 

For those who want some "next level" action, ready to be a bit active and want to know how the big-$ does it; I say study up on selling Put's, to utilize in acquiring leaps. It's a wall street version of infinite returns. But it DOES take much study to not just know how to do it, but how to add in protections when doing it for capping loss potentials, when to do it, on what companies etc etc.. 

And like all things investing, YES it DOES take $ to do it. Minimum $25k in my opinion. $25k that could go to $0 and it won't take food off the table. That's $25k LIQUID not margin. 

Margin should be used exclusively for emergencies, not regular activities. 

That's where Real Estate crushes wall street investing, it's 1,000X safer to use leveraged funds in real estate than on wall street. 

Quote from @Mark Miles:

Quote from @Renee Adams:

I’d love to get some honest takes from the community on this.

Real estate is sold as passive income, generational wealth, financial freedom. But here’s what I see a lot of people never really factor in until they’re already in deep:

     The mental load of being the “everything person.”

You’re the emergency contact when the HVAC dies at midnight.
You’re the diplomat when a guest trashes your short-term rental.
You’re the problem solver when your contractor ghosts mid-flip.
You’re the one watching market news every night, second guessing every move.

I’ve seen people with great numbers on paper who burn out because they didn’t factor in the weight of always being “on call.”

Some people push through it. Others hire it out. Some sell everything and swear off real estate forever.

So I’m curious — how do YOU handle this?

 Do you truly keep it passive — property managers, co-hosts, VAs?
 Do you embrace the chaos and do it all yourself?
 Have you ever quit because the mental load was just too much?

I think more new investors need to hear the real cost of always being the one holding the bag when stuff goes sideways.

Drop your honest stories — what’s your biggest lesson or wake-up call about the mental side of real estate that nobody warned you about?

Let’s give the newbies the real picture — good and bad.

@Renee Adams I get it, you’re trying to drum up business for your property mgmt firm but you just keep posting the same topics over and over. We get it - managing an Airbnb is time-consuming and you’re here to help people out. No need to keep creating posts on this same topic

Look, I hate marketing as much as the next person but credit is owed to Renee that she is doing it right. 

She's stoking pertinent conversations and debate, not pumping BS, active in her replies and engagement of the audience..... 

It's not for me but I appreciate what Renee is doing and how she's respectfully going about doing it. 

Real Estate is passive.... 

Running a Landlordings business, running a Hospitality business, there is NOTHING passive about running those businesses. 

The problem is people assuming, very incorrectly, that a business with a real estate component, is JUST "real estate investing". 

No, it is NOT. 

The ownership of the real estate, that is investing. The monetization business is a BUSINESS. 

The problem is people comingling the investing with the operating, they are 2 very distinctly different things. 

I have some real estate investments; I have done exactly 0 with them ever, literally 0 hours per week, month, year. THAT is investing. I own them via equity in the venture. Others do literally everything. 

There is nothing passive about being an owner operator of literally anything, not just real estate. 

 Selling NVDA put's was an easy one, but wow, even surprised myself. 

I sold between the 145 and 170 strikes. They just gave $ away....... 

Ok @Shane Finnegan you want the super-simple plan (in my opinion as it's something I do time to time)..... 

DISCOLOSURE: the below is OPINION and does NOT equate to financial or investing advice nor does it equate to any form of brokering advice or relationship in any way, investing is risky, most people loose money in the stock market, options are complex instruments where most people loose most money, invest at your own risk, this is all person opinion NOT advice, agency, advisory in any way shape or form, all the disclosures...... 

NVDA is trading ~ $157 per share. 

You buy 8,900 shares of NVDA at market (call it 157) 

You then go out about 90 days, Sept 19, and you sell 89 call contract on the 158 strike price. 

This is called selling a covered call (covered by the shares you own). 

These are selling for $12.50 a share right now. 

That means you'd get paid $111,250.00 for selling that covered call. 

Or as I like to call it, your selling a ticket to gamble to some gambler. 

If do that quarterly, that's about $35k per month. 

Your downside risk is the stock price rockets to let's say $200, and you only get what your selling that option for, 158 + the 12.50 per share they pre-paid you = 170.50

Upside risk, the stock only goes up to say 165, meaning it's a net loss for the holder (aka gambler) of that option contract to exercise it and you keep the 12.50 plus you keep your 8,900 shares, rinse & repeat selling yet another in-the-money covered call another 90-odd days out. 

Or the Black-Swan risk, like I had happen to me from Tariff-Fun a short time ago, the stock walks off a cliff and tumbles too $90 a share and your dashboard is all the red. You keep the pre-paid premium of course, but now your with all the red and if don't know what your doing maybe panic sell, or went on leverage and now in a call on your account position better known as blowing up an account and you just experienced a bullet train lesson on how to loose a few hundred thousand in a blink of an eye.      Or your experienced and knowledgeable and know how to work the other side of things to mitigate and ride it to the other side. 

-OR- 

You could hire someone who knows what there doing in Investment Real Estate which is honestly the same/similar strategy but via real estate asset vs stock as an asset. 

-OR- you could keep hoping for some rando on a forum to give away the keys to the kingdom for free....... 

Is that detailed enough for you Shane? 

I did offer help, ton's of ACTUAL help. You then ask me to serve it up to you on a silver platter FOR FREE. You don't even expect that from a person who takes your order and carries food, you think they deserve compensation but someone putting together how to make you millions is supposed to do it for FREE..... 

My treasure maps, your dang right they come with a fee, a substantial one, heck yeah they do. Because there worth it, end of story. 

@John Russo some really great detailed answers have been lent already so I am going to keep myself to really basic "straight-talk". 

You gotta change what your doing because that world does NOT exist anymore, and it isn't coming back for a loooooong time. 

We are at a pivot point of a 40yr cycle. It's a $$$$ cycle. 

Past 40yrs $$$$ has been on various "sales". So combine $$$$ "on-sale" with growing cities and various housing blip's and it's made times where it was really easy to just buy a place, almost any place really, and make $ on the spread with a bit of time. 

2008 was the biggest "blip" and $$$$ went on the biggest sale ever, it was literally free (for the banks that is). So yeah, it was CRAZY easy to buy almost anything, anywhere, and cash-flow right out the gate. 

That is NOT normal. It's never been normal, literally ever. That wasn't just a once in a lifetime opportunity, it was a once in multiple lifetime's kind of thing. 

It's NEVER coming back man, NEVER. 

There is no cycle of such a thing, there is not 10 or 20yr or any of the YT BS idiot's out there are saying. That was literally a 1-time thing where all the stars just perfectly aligned in a crazy rare 1-off event. 

So you gotta wrap your head around what IS todays reality, and where it's all going. Were now at the start of a different 40yr cycle. 

Investing is now about INVESTING. Buying cash-flow is NOT investing, it isn't, that is business purchasing, Merger & Acquisitions, NOT investing. 

INVESTING is buying Tesla at $225 because have reason to believe it's going too $325 in a year or two or whatever. To put it in a very simplified terms. 

7 yrs ago, a person could have woke up after a 3 day Vegas bender, casually scrolled the MLS on there phone and randomly picked a property with the 4 working brain cells, and probably come out ok. That is NOT normal. That was CRAZY easy of a market.

Today, going forward, it's back to normal. Which means it's gonna take work, serious work, serious intelligence, focus, knowledge, insight, strategy. In short, back to a professional market. 

Kind of like the stock market. After it fell so hard, any idiot could buy almost anything and it made $. Was it because that idiot was oh-so right? No, it was because of the unique situation right. 

Today, now it's wicked hard, complicated, technical and requires a highly skilled and experienced pro to consistently make $ on wall street right. 

Yeah, it's just the fact that the uber-easy market is gone-baby-GONE.

So the answer to it all is really simple once one understands the reality of it, you either; 

- (A) Hire a skilled Pro 

- (B) Become a skilled Pro

- (C) Spend rest of eternity starring in the rear view mirror or trying to put square peg's in round holes

- (D) Give up, walk away, quit......