EXERCISING THE OPTION:A.

For me, at any rate, the ability to formulate quickly, to resolve any problem into it's simplest, clearest form, has been exceedingly useful...I found higher mathematics the best possible exercise for developing the mental muscles necessary to this process.       

as we gently settle into the golden years  :)  Looks like the fly fishing is going to be a  focus  and US travel and Canada. things tend to focus around the grand kids these days..

Flint Michigan is a good example of a place that you should exercise extreme caution in investing.   

Exercising a little patience and taking a year to better establish that foundation before launching into the shell of my R/E portfolio seems appropriate.

As a mental exercise, can you imagine the perspective of an investor that bought a property from you just 8 months prior to that email, had his FIRST TENANT miss payments, lie about making payments, make partial payments, then ultimately skip out on four months rent?

I believe that it would be a useless exercise. 

This is just a learning exercise.

Do that exercise and find out.  

our single best exercise move was to move to AZ in the winter.