If you invested the avg new car payment of $478 into the s&p 500 index instead it would grow to be worth over $1,000,000!  

Additionally higher interest rates will increase the annual cost of living index.

Assuming 6% return from a Vanguard index fund.- Outcome: It would take at least 5 years before the income earned would be worth it.

Can be a hand-written note on a 3x5 index card "paid $400 cash to Joe Smith for manual labor on 123 Shady St. demo" - signed and dated by Joe.

Case-Schiller agrees with youThe numbers: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city index rose 0.1%, seasonally adjusted, in July, and was up 5.9% compared with a year ago.What happened: Home-price gains were weaker in the three-month period ending in July than in the prior month.

Our Realtor's standard contract here in Illinois leaves space for an address and "Permanent Index Number" which is a unique number that each property is assigned around here and used by the county for record keeping.

From news -"The Case-Shiller index slipped again in February 2012, falling to levels not seen since 2003"Originally posted by Brian Hoyt:Originally posted by Steve Luo:It is all about local market.And it might well be an L shape bottom.What local market could still be on the downward trend that started in 07 and ended, from all apparent indications, around 2010/2011?

How about a nice IO or 30/15 Baloon or 2/28 or 3/27 or fixed minium on a COSI + margin index.

Once you have a property and build some equity you can pull that it to invest further or even buy in to index funds/dividend stocks or another property.

To be average and match the income for Wilmington the cost of living index should be 77 and it isn't it is 94, which is still less than the US average.