This just happened recently and it's a shame because a) there are unbelievable deals over there and b) the investor purchases are a completely unrealistic way to benchmark comps.

I realize that I am replying to a posting from half a decade ago - unemployment was at 6% or so when this was posted :-) but we're benchmarking this right now.

I finished this book at few months ago and wanted to touch on a few things.This was my first "flip" book I have ever read so there isn't anything for me to benchmark it to.

If someone has already built an office complex, it's relatively easy to benchmark how yours would do.

If you are at the point in your investing career that you are ready to do a flip I would imagine you have a pretty good handle on what your holding costs will be exactly and you can start factoring that in to the equation but 70% will be an extremely difficult benchmark to hit.

Those replacement cost estimators are not 100% accurate and I usually use that for a benchmark.

Statistically, mutual funds are usually unable to consistently outperform when you take into account things like fees and key benchmarks that they should achieve.

That's your bench mark.

Unfortunately, I don't have the opportunity to go to every rental house in my area to get the experience, the benchmark I have is what's on the current market.

Bill, these rules are useful benchmarks to help evaluate a deal.