#2 – Give a brief description of the idea and a brief explanation of how the idea can be used. i.e.

Eric, to answer your questions...Yes, our investing is definitely spaced out geographically, but we're thinking with three of us we can cover a lot of ground.

This would be sufficient as an explanation except from what I've read on the net there are folks who don't want to receive direct mail and hence they pay the DMA to remove them from lists and they also do things like buy a stamp that says return to sender, some of the postcards have this, and write similar expanations on the card as excuses.

With that said though… many times I offer multiple offers… There is almost always a way to make it a deal if they will play along… So I say simple things like… “Let me think it over and see if it will work for me”… or “let me think it over” then when I have to say no… it is as simple as “I don’t think it will work for me” or “it is not quite what I am looking for”… My “No’s” are very generic… I don’t give a bunch of reasons or explanation of how I made my decision… Also, I must say… My marketing style that gets people to call me is not “Im here to help” it is “I buy houses”!

The explanation I have heard is that since the clients are taking " cash " out .. therefore, the lender can go after the assets.Also, I have read in this forum .. about 1099, IRA for 982 ... ect .. does it make any difference whether the property is owner-occupied or investment property ?

When looking at the Case-Shiller data be aware of how they collect it.If you go to the methodology page there will be an explanation.

Now we are both working seperate markets outside of our backyard where cashflow is abundant. 80-90% of the country geographically cashflows.

GeorgeFirst, the 50% rule is NOT an accounting function nor is it anything other than a rule of thumb...That said, the way I interpret and use the rule of thumb -- and most investors I know would agreed -- is as follows:"On average, across a large number of units, a long time period and a large geographic sample, somewhere around 50% of gross income will be used for operating expenses, vacancy/rent loss and CapEx."

The promoters make it seem like they are turn key almost guaranteed investments but you want to make sure you do as much due diligence as with any commercial real estate investment because in a lot of cases, you probably will be investing outside of your geographic area in markets you are not as familiar with.Assuming you get into a solid proeprty, I personally think they are a great investment vehicle

We also leave a very detailed explanation of how we expect them to take care of the property and how they'll be rewarded for doing so.