I tend to over-rehab, because we benchmark new home qualitys, which usually means leaving money invested after refi.

CMHC & Genworth will require the interest rate on terms <= 5-years to be based upon the benchmark rate (i.e.

Even with stagnant rates and duplexes in the $300k range, you can easily achieve $1,600+ for a 2 BR, giving you well over the 1% benchmark.

Con - I would never need this as an investor since I do deals based on financial performance and / or comparable sales, then work my way backwards to an offer price.Pro - a (used) mobile home dealer can use NADA as a benchmark for credibility establishing home prices.I guess the pros and cons will depend on what you plan to do with it.

I appreciate your sentiments on 5% serving as a bit of a personal benchmark for what's currently acceptable.

All you really need is a one page summary that provides the property address, mailing address, 1st and 2nd lien, fair market value (I use the tax assessed as a benchmark as it is posted in the NOD) and finally a ratio that compares the debt to the value...what the NOD programs like Sharkbait are doing is basically pulling all this info out of the Excel file and re-organizing it for you in a user friendly format....and they charge accordingly.

I do have my own company though, and from that, I know most of the banks I talked to wanted to see 2 years of steady income before they would even consider lending the business money.Hopefully that at least gives you a benchmark.

Our experience to help you benchmark:- Bought duplex for $550k in 2010; live in one, the other rent-controlled unit rented for $865/ month (0.3%).  

@DavidLevy I see you're working through how to appropriately benchmark criteria for a particular investment.

I had originally thought about using the house as a rental.The rental will net $6200/year...but it looks like some of the flips are getting $30K to $50K gross.Is there a calculator or some benchmark that shows whether a house should be a rental or flip?