It has been a long time, but the Kings have prevailed and have posted the mots dominating playoff series in all of professional sports history going 16-4 and losing only one road game (winning 10 in a row, previous sports playoff record held by LA Lakers at 8 games in a row).Go Kings Go!

That same freedom allows for positive as well as negative things (think internet gambling and the child porn and the malware and scammers).

I do the same with my stoke portfolio... you have your retirement funds that you put in stable long term thinking companies, then you "gamble" with the rest haha

My salary is decent for an engineer my age, flexible and I certainly don't hate going to work as I get to see things most people in this world won't- but I often find myself having real estate on the mind whenever I have free time at work, much like how other people like to surf sports and celebrity news sites.  

Add to that southern California has:Amusement parks (including world famous Disneyland)Zoos and AquariumsCultural events Major sporting eventsTourist attractions galoreWorld renowned shopping centersHigh tech companiesWorld class medical centers, universities, etc.and finally BEACHES!!

Why would sports stars, music stars, movie stars buy almost walking distance from your front door?

Every college in the country will have thousands and thousands of students working and going to school or student athletes spending 50+ hours a week on their sport.  

Very rare opportunity indeed.And sure, some will come in here and poo-poo all over this idea once again, talking about how Stockton is a tertiary market, we're at the top of the market, the bubble is about to burst, and so on and so on...But remember, they said the same thing about Sacramento, too...If it were me, I would take the gamble on Downtown Stockton, develop some millennial bait with some cool lofts or something and maybe a few high tech features in the home, and ride this development wave out and watch the property values skyrocket.Or you could always just buy that turn-key property you've never seen in some far away state and hope you don't get screwed over by the developer like a reader of my weekly newsletter just did... but that wouldn't be very wise now would it?

They may have nice appreciation but that's a bit of a gamble.

My theory is the police feel bad for anyone driving a minivan and would rather spend their time giving tickets to people in sports cars or luxury sedans.