Did the traders just have a free ride for the last 2-3 years?  

Would love to find a group to grab a cup of coffee or a cold beer and trade real estate stories and ideas with.

coffee shops that call coffee something other than coffee, tight pants, short running shorts, Trader Joes, lots of bikes, attitude glasses (non-prescription), wine and tea stores, mustaches, edgy (slightly pornographic) art, etc.

Do the work yourself to learn more of the skills and the trade.  Rent

See, I don't really like Trader Joe's.  

Thus traders borrow the yen to and buy the aussie dollar to profit from appreciation and the interest spread.

Traders DeliNYCanton DeliNYCanton to goDeli on the Square

This is a brokerage activity.The timing between note transactions can take a note holder from "investing" to brokering, by churning accounts, buying and selling as they might as a day trader in stocks.

"There's no rule of thumb that says: Buy three houses, you'll get capital gains; buy five and you're a dealer-trader.

I don't have a whole lot of insight into the market there, but in general, anywhere a Wegmans or Trader Joes or the like pops up, I tend to think of it as a positive sign for an area.