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Back in 2023, Mark Cuban found himself seated on a warehouse floor alongside viral sensation Bobbi Althoff as a guest on The Really Good Podcast (1).

During the 58-minute interview, Althoff used her awkward yet engaging tactics to get Cuban to open up about a range of topics, from the Mavericks to Shark Tank — and even asked him for $5 million to buy a home.

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“You could give me a billion dollars right now and it probably wouldn’t even affect you,” Althoff quipped, negotiating with Cuban. “Fine $5 million, we’ll go small. I could buy a house in Southern California.”

Despite finding common ground over their shared birthday and lactose intolerance, Cuban didn’t give in. He cautioned Althoff that even with a multimillion-dollar handout, California living would remain beyond her means.

“I would have given you $5 million for nothing,” the Shark Tank star replied.

Cuban explained to her why owning a house that expensive wouldn’t work out, even if he bought it for her.

When the podcast initially aired back in 2023, the median sale price of a California home was $742,000, according to Redfin (2). Prices are now about 7% higher, with the median sale price nearing $800,000 — making California the most expensive place to buy a house in America (3).

Cuban emphasized the importance of considering the full financial picture when thinking about homeownership. While you may believe you can afford the initial down payment, there can be significant ongoing expenses associated with maintaining a property.

“You’d have to pay all those taxes,” said Cuban, nodding to the high property tax rates in California.

According to the California Association of Realtors November 2025 data, a minimum annual income of $223,600 is necessary to afford the costs associated with homeownership in the state.

Thankfully, there are ways you can make money on the current real estate market that don’t involve buying a home, paying property taxes or taking on the work of managing a rental property and tenants. If your priority is increasing your net worth and generating passive income, a traditional 30-year mortgage isn’t your only option.

For example, mogul is a real estate investment platform offering fractional ownership in blue-chip rental properties, which gives investors monthly rental income, real-time appreciation and tax benefits — without the need for a hefty down payment or 3 a.m. tenant calls.

Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, the team hand-picks the top 1% of single-family rental homes nationwide for you. Simply put, you can invest in institutional quality offerings for a fraction of the usual cost.

Each property undergoes a vetting process, requiring a minimum 12% return even in downside scenarios. Across the board, the platform features an average annual IRR of 18.8%. Their cash-on-cash yields, meanwhile, average between 10 to 12% annually. Offerings often sell out in under three hours, with investments typically ranging between $15,000 and $40,000 per property.

Getting started is a quick and easy process. You can sign up for an account and then browse available properties. Once you verify your information with their team, you can invest like a mogul in just a few clicks.

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If you are looking to make a larger investment, you could also leverage privately held real estate opportunities. Although many of these investments are marketed to investors with capital on hand, not all are created equal.

Accredited investors can now tap into this opportunity through platforms such as Lightstone DIRECT, which gives accredited investors access to single-asset multifamily and industrial deals.

Lightstone DIRECT’s direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

Another avenue is to dial into real-estate backed cash yields while keeping your money earning against the sting of inflation. Unlike an IRR, which measures success over the lifetime of an investment, tapping into interest-based payouts can give you consistent passive income and a little bit more liquidity.

For instance, the Arrived Real Estate Income Fund is designed to generate regular dividend income while focusing on capital preservation.

The fund already manages more than $83 million in assets and has historically delivered an annualized cash yield of more than 8.1%. To put this in perspective, even the "aristocrats" of dividend stocks struggle to reach a high-water mark of 5.51%, according to Morningstar (5).

How it works is simple: Arrived offers short-term loans for professional real estate projects seeking to renovate, refinance or fund new construction. Each loan goes through a disciplined selection process and is backed by residential real estate, adding another layer of underwriting rigor and downside protection.

Even better, Arrived Real Estate Income Fund investors also have quarterly liquidity options beginning six months after their initial investment, offering more flexibility than many traditional income-focused investments.

In classic Althoff fashion, she not only asked Cuban for $5 million, but she also pitched him on investing in her podcast.

“I don’t know that I’d invest in a podcast,” Cuban quipped.

Although Cuban was hesitant to jump into Althoff’s investment offer, he’s certainly not against diversifying his investments. According to his website, Cuban has invested in all sorts of goods and services — from NBA franchises to healthy bakeries (6).

Asset diversification can be a great way to protect your wealth. Often, when investors diversify, they’re looking for alternative assets that differ from the stock market.

That’s especially the case now, as fears over a potential AI bubble have some investors skittish about keeping the bulk of their money in the stock market.

On the Pioneers of AI podcast late last year, Cuban weighed in, saying: “I don’t think it’s a traditional stock market bubble.” Though he cautioned there may be smaller bubbles within the industry, saying that “to be a market leader, they may be overspending (7).”

If you’re mostly invested in the S&P 500, your portfolio is very vulnerable to those companies competing for the AI throne. Just five major AI companies — Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta and Microsoft — account for a whopping 30% of the S&P 500, according to CNBC (8).

If any of those companies take a tumble, investors would see their portfolios suffer.

At the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in November 2025, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said, “It’s likely there’ll be a 10 to 20% drawdown in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months.”

With that kind of a warning sign, diversification isn’t just smart — it’s essential.

In a period of heightened market volatility, data suggests stocks and bonds alone may be less reliable for consistent long-term growth. As alternative investments become more accessible and attractive, more investors are seeking smarter ways to diversify.

Now, Masterworks is offering a single investment that combines blue-chip art with other scarce assets, such as gold and bitcoin, that have historically moved independently of equities and of one another.

The result is a more balanced, all-weather approach to alternative investing. In fact, this model would have outperformed the S&P 500 by 3.1x from 2017 to 2025.*

By leveraging access to museum-quality artwork alongside other uncorrelated assets, the strategy aims to enhance diversification while still pursuing meaningful appreciation.

Discover how diversifying with this strategy can strengthen your portfolio for the years ahead.

*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. The 3.1x figure reflects a model backtest, not actual fund performance.

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The Really Good Podcast (1); Redfin (2, 3); California Association of Realtors (4); Morningstar (5); Mark Cuban Companies (6); Pioneers of AI (7); CNBC (8)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.