Donald Capwell Speaking of evals, whenever I do a project, I treat each and every piece different, I only care about the output, I don't care if the land has no value or high value, what I am concerned about is if when I list all my expenses out plus contingency, I will still make maybe 10-15%, then I will be happy to undertake it, on smaller value, like repair project for a client I tend to do in the low to mid 20s, only because it is so dynamic and something might pop up in the middle.

With the oversupply in the market, it makes sense that a lot of hosts aren't getting future bookings as well.I'm sure you know, but some methods that you can use to get more bookings are SEO, dynamic pricing, unique interior, figuring out the algorithm, market research, etc.

Your location would matter greatly as well, so the best answer might be to wait things out a little if you don't have a large cash reserve, and gain more knowledge(SEO, dynamic pricing, no cleaning fee, how to deal with potential squatters, no coffee machines, etc) until the economy starts to get better, and then start.

:-)Its a huge country, and sometimes the dynamics of where you personally live make decent rental options, if not the best, so you can't go too wrong in either field/class. 

I wish I would have heeded your last comment about not making cosmetic or just non-non-habitable improvements cause I'm sure that is how I landed myself in this absurdly unbalanced power dynamic. 

Even as a young kid I was fascinated by the detail and craftsmanship that went into such intricate designs.

Real estate is far bigger and dynamic than your discussion alludes to.Without a doubt, there are large forces and macro-trends that take place over time.  

:))What would be the "Vanguard" of self-directed IRA industry who is appropriate for the dynamic note investing?

While it's somewhat a semantical thing, it goes to the heart of whether you really understand the underlying dynamics at work...When you ask, "Does the 2% rule work in MA?"

I am particularly interested in starting out by house-hacking, and have been monitoring the MLS in fort walton beach/destin/pensacola since day 1 of starting my job to try and familiarize myself with the market dynamics.