It's pretty tough to accurately predict what your actual expenses will be.

Here in SE England the 5-6% is before any expenses, so if you have to rehab or replace items you can be down even more points.On a wider note I am more confident the US has reached the turning point than I am about Europe, the whole Greece thing is making it very hard to predict the future.I am concerned about people with things to sell and the distance that puts them from the truth, that's why I started this thread.

I'm not going to buy Walmart or Microsoft at the start up stage as a speculator because I saw huge appreciation potential before anyone else... but I'll sift through the solid performers and try to find the corner cases that are neglected and get predictable and above market returns.

With a 2-story, lines may need to be temporarily disconnected.Drywall repairs were more predictable than plaster.

Management is really the key for holding costs to a predictable and calculable number each month.

I can't predict anything.

This is similar to your plan to invest it in higher return instruments.

My principle instrument was french horn.Sounds like you're well versed with your analysis.

This will assist you in predicting future income.

So buying a property for $100K today and selling for $150K in the future could potentially cause as much as $150K capital gain (rather than the actual $50K gain).It's impossible to predict what taxes will be like in the future, but [1] am I right than in the situation described, not depreciating the property might be beneficial (I.E. am I overlooking something obvious?)