So, if these deals are so fantastic, what about them doesn't measure up to your criteria?

Housing prices as measured by the Cash-Shiller Composite continued to perform quite well after that.

A contract can be pulled when the buyer's performance fails in seeking timely financing anywhere, I'd say we leave it at that and not stipulate more drastic measures, at least it wouldn't be smiled upon in my area.

BP--I'm looking for best practices on safety measures to reduce crime, breaking and entering, etc.

This would seem unlikely as the condensate water drains back by gravity and so a 4' elevated pipe wouldn't fit the scenario well.BTW:  one-pipe-steam pipes are relatively large  (as they have to simultaneously flow steam in one directions and water in the opposite direction)  so the OP measuring the ize of the pipes will give us better clues.stephen-------------------Originally posted by @Nathan Renner:Possibly, if it is a single pipe in each room, it's probably an old single pipe steam system line.

I don't understand how hard it was to do the frame unless he rushed it and measured wrong.

Anyway, our one duplex actually has a 4 car garage (2 2-car garages for each unit) and it also has an additional narrow garage along the back that goes the length of the building (approx. 12x45-ish... didn't measure, could be slightly bigger). 

This brings me back to my thoughts on college education, it's not a measure of intelligence it's a measure of effort.  

I found another quick way of doing it:25% of gross rent for vacancy, repairs, and reserves (you can use this rule because these are just allowances, not measured expenses)Plus $50 per month for insurance (on SFR)Plus the taxes from the county website (Make sure to add town/county, city/village, AND school; zillow is almost always missing one portion; also be sure to remove any exemptions an owner-occupant currently gets)That tells me what my cash flow will be before financing.  

Please do.So: I find that "Payback Time" is a good measure of the quality of an investment.