Magic number in your market

[Chatree C.]

Hi everyone, I'm an aspiring investor and while I read and learn as much as I can on Biggerpockets, one thing I realized quickly was the drastic difference in each market. For example, 1% rule is highly unrealistic where I am in the Bay Area. But that doesn't mean there's no deal to be had.

I always heard about different rules or guidelines that people would use to evaluate their deal, or to say No to a deal. For example:

- 1% rule

- $100 cashflow per door

- $300 cashflow per door in 3 years

- Cashflow positive even if it was 100% financing

- and so on…

 All these guidelines don't apply to all markets. I'd love to hear from you what is your rough guideline and which city or neighborhood it applies to. I understand there are many other factors but I think we all have some generic threshold in mind to quickly weed out bad deals. Let's share your number and help us all understand the state of different markets.

Thanks!

[Chris Mason]

Rent * 75% - PITI.

We have Prop 13. Our prop taxes do not go up proportional to rental income, the way it does in 49 states. Rent * 50% - P&I doesn't make sense for us.

If that rule yields a negative number, you'd have to be in part betting on appreciation, like a new BART stop or something.