However, the Virginia Supreme Court did overturn a long-term precedent there when it ruled that property owners can indeed force a neighbor to cut back roots or branches in some cases; a handful of civil suits have been successful against neighboring tree owners, too.Timing is an issue, tooBut most importantly, you came after the fact, Derak, and nearly all laws on the subject say that new property owners aren’t responsible for damage caused by trees on their land before they purchased it.

You can calculate the Return on Equity (ROE).

In California, barring any unforseen chain of title issues, Tax Deeds are fully insurable after the one year statute of limitations for the sale to be overturned is expired. 

Now we're talking about ROE and that's safer and easier and much less hassle to earn with paper securities.  

At a minimum, I’m thinking to scale up to 10 SFRs over the next 5 years and then (possibly, this is what I am always debating) killing off those 10 mortgages over the following 10 years (ROE is low, but cash flow should sky rocket).  

Especially if you use a lot of leverage..http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4579/blog_posts/32645-if-ca-h-is-king-then-leverage-is-god---loans-cash-roe-roi-and-risk

. - numbers fit - Cap rate, ROE etc.

I ultimately want to carry properties at 75% to 80% LTV, so return-on-equity (ROE) is probably my most critical metric.

Return on Equity = Cash Flow after Tax / Current Equity in Property As appreciation outgrows your Cash Flow, ROE diminishes and it may be time to sell or refi in order to buy more property and have money work harder.

Especially if someday you’d rather have that same equity in a different property with better ROE.