@Jay Hinrichs Very true...I think that's one self-critique I'd have as well in that I prob don't spend enough time thinking about things from the other party's perspective (see impatience above) or trying to figure out what is most valuable to them. 

I am intrigued by house hacking because I love the idea of creating a situation for oneself that has the potential to severely bring down the cost of a mortgage payment. 

Unless we are all trained appraisers it is very difficult to value it or even distinguish real from alloy?

Hello,

Okay, the post on commodity acquisition via jewelry was perhaps too much "reverse-logistics."

I'm looking at the tax assessor website to track properties and noticing folks do the following:

1. Purchase REO...

However, dust can have an adverse effect on smoke detectors because they typically use a photo-electric sensor that cannot always distinguish between smoke or dust particles, so I wonder if maybe that is what the fire department was thinking.This wasn't a combination smoke/CO alarm, was it?

What are some effective methods to familiarize oneself with the market of an area?

If everyone can just distinguish WANTS and NEEDS, it will probably solve 90% of their spending.

The key is being able to distinguish the % dedicated to investment (work use). 

The lending channel makes it hard to distinguish the deal quality.   

So you really have to distinguish between cash investors and those using HML when using these rules.