These are both past events that can be discerned and judged upon.  

I would say run some comps for what has sold with electric vs gas in that particular neighborhood and see if there is a discernible difference.  

Tax lien investing is commonly portrayed as “can’t miss,” which raises red flags in the eyes of discerning investors.

Jeffrey BreglioThe article points to an interesting trend that in hot markets, everybody's building luxury or high end apartments because the net cash is much better than affordable housing.In the crash, all of the equity that was lost in our market (Cache Valley) was from high-end spec homes with no discernible buyers.  

I assume that you can be more discerning in picking your tenant since you are going to be sharing some living space with them.

I assume that you can be more discerning in picking your tenant since you are going to be sharing some living space with them.

I am tentatively setting a goal to make at least 15% cash on cash net after tax return on my rentals in as low risk situations as I can discern, or else it won't be worth my time and risk to try to learn and compete as a stand alone entity. if I can't be paid for my time I'd be better off giving my investment money to the big boys and getting a job.

It goes on to say that, if an investor has the knowledge of this cycle and is able to discern where one’s particular market sits on the “Real Estate Cycle Clock” (ie which phase) they can make more successful investment decisions thus earning the moniker “Strategic RE Investor”.

Misleading even.Some of this is hard to discern what is happening because you are using terms unique to you not industry terms.

The above is also true if it appraises right at contract sales price, but you can discern that the appraiser is being very conservative by reading between the lines on the appraisal.