Overall, country of origin wasn’t as good of an indicator of quality as you might imagine; I’ve worked with good westerners sure, but also folks from say the Philippines that were just as good as someone from Pittsburgh.Effectively, I thought of them as a force multiplier; they’re ideal for work that isn’t hard and isn’t a good or cost-effective use of your time to handle yourself.

I like to look at the gross rent multiplier as well.  

You can multiply your efforts by outsourcing things best left to other professionals.I recommend the book Who Not How, by Dr.

Where he is a simple formula that almost nobody knows, but is very cool and I share it with my students:Here we go:Leveraged return = Cap Rate - interest rate (market rate expected to pay)multiply that by the ration of debt to equity (so if it is 75% it would be 3 to 1, or just 3)add that back to the cap rate and you have your leveraged returnExample-cap rate = 8%interest rate = 6%LTV Ratio = 75%8-6=2%2% X 3=6%8%+6%=14% annual leveraged returnSo now you have a leveraged number (back of the envelope), but who cares if you don't know what it means and how to apply it.

During that same time period you can multiply your net wealth by a factor of 10 with less risk in REI.

I hear a lot of talk about how wonderful and how easy the SW belt is at making big fortunes with huge cash flows and multiplying profits, but never hear about the realities of investing here and what the market is actually doing "today", which is a far cry from what I'm reading about.

Rodents multiply rapidly.

You make money in real estate when you buy - either from a motivated seller or by having a plan to reposition the property.Not sure why you're ignoring appreciation as that is the big multiplier in real estate.

Account Closed  Good stuff there.I do think we're in for a rocky road here in Illinois given how big a hole the govt is in and how overtaxed we already are (property taxes in some of the towns I'm in down here are 3.5 to 4.5% - and thats actual rate not the 3times multiplier so the rates are 12 to 14 in kankakee and will county towns).I've questioned what the rising rates are going to do.

You are looking at the economy and the impact of the multiplier affect.