The underlying issue is very complicated and involves the landlord's volatile personal life, which is subject to change as the ongoing drama ensues.

This is consistent with decreasing the volatility of your equity portfolio as you age too....which is what most portfolio designers preach.Of course....there are those on BP that claim this is non-optimal and that these people are not "serious businessmen."

Stocks are much more liquid but also more volatile.

Although there are signs of the market strengthening, it is still volatile and I would not want to building 40+ more homes just to run into the risk of them sitting for multiple years.

Also, now that we're getting closer to the mania phase we'll see increased volatility. $100.00 + swings in either direction may be normal soon.

Believe me - there are investors right now with hundreds of thousands of dollars they're willing to lend at 7-8% given that they're not earning that in money market funds and the stock market is too volatile for them.

I am very hesitant to go with a "heat included" rent structure, given the volatility of oil costs over the past two years.

The problem with this scenario is that fuel costs are volatile right now and rapidly rising.

I'd die of boredom.Comodities and for-ex are too volatile for me.

That is a very important factor to consider, especially in volatile times and when you want to buy and hold.