However, I am surprised to hear he doesn't carry insurance and bond.

If I was selling a property and had to choose between a highly motivated buyer who would pay me monthly to take over everything verses a lengthy conventional sell, I'd possibly choose the MLO...  

I have not attended the meetup so don't take my word as bond here but I'm sure they should be able to help out.https://www.meetup.com/Atlanta-Airbnb/

And maybe I get a 1.25% return from bonds or a savings account or some other risk-free-ish instrument.I’ve even considered paying down mortgages.

SE FTW fails miserably in that area, while Balch Springs is in Mesquite ISD, which is not great, but actually not terrible, and they recently passed a bond measure to for Mesquite ISD to improve the schools.

Any deposit or compliance bond made by the defaulting bidder shall secure payment of the amount, if any, for which the defaulting bidder remains liable under this section"

Laws in South Africa are far from landlord friendly making the eviction process relatively lengthy and thus expensive .

Figure out the strike price that meets your criteria and use it to move forward.Call it what you want...bright lines, criteria, boundaries, rules, your code...figure out what they are and use them to guide daily decisions; otherwise, all decisions are lengthy and stressful. 

Plus, my Grandma got him $10,000 in Bonds many years ago and that will be a great graduation present in 2 years too.He would have had all kinds of student debt if it was not for all the cash flow in my RE.    

When REI can not compete with other vehicles, like stock, REITs, bond, etc, money will leave REI.There might still be deals out there, for seasoned investors.