@Amy Johnson I love his story line, and the way he illustrate it in real life events.

I'm working on an article for the BiggerPockets blog and am looking for some responses that I can use to illustrate some points.Marketing Campaign seems to be one of those terms that is loosely defined and I think that such an important term deserves some clarity so when we use the term we'll all be that much closer to being on the same page.

@Joe T.You have received some good advice, but I would like to illustrate another way you can approach your high-maintenance tenant.   

It is so nice to read a story that illustrates the power of sticking to your dream and working toward it in the face of disappointment.

Not sure if I understood this part correctly (and not having dealt much with US Financial Institutions on mortgages I may be in the dark on this) - are you stating that:(all numbers for sake of illustration):- 2010 I take out a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage on a property for 100K; 20K down, 80K mortgage (20%)- 2015 property is now worth 200K; principal paydown was 10K on original mortgage - i.e remaining mortgage balance is 70K.

This is not to say that I'm an expert, because I'm certainly a neophyte, I'm simply trying to illustrate what I meant by 'unqualified'.

MikeOH,Actually, that is the 2% rule that you illustrated there.

There was a really good forum thread from the past 5 or 6 days that I had started and I think it illustrates the use of this really, really good. http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/75412When you look at that thread - and there are a lot more examples on here each day - you will see that there are 46 postings to it.

Refis, especially cash out are notorioulsy more conservative but with purhases many of the appraisers take a property's purchase contract to be illustrative of true market value.good luck

If you buy the lower price properties for all cash here's how it calculates:45k cash outlay/7800(gross rent)= ~17.3% ;If you apply 50% (rule) to ball park expenses, you get 3900 estimated net = ~8.7%.VS.85k *20% DP = 17k cash outlay68k loan balance @6%@20yrs=487.17/mo + 250 (tax&Insur, just for illustrative purposes, you can easily get actual numbers to figure this out) = 737.17/mo1000 -737.17=262.83 *12= 3153.96 (gross rent) = ~18.6%; If you apply 50% (rule) to ball park expenses, you get 1576.98 estimated net = ~9.3%.It's your decision which you prefer.