If that note was started in say 2005 or 2006, I know that the value of the asset was artificially inflated at that time so i am going to look at the value today very, very closely. 

My take is that it really depends on you business model and time frame (flip or buy and hold etc) You can make REAL money even in ARTIFICIAL recoveries.

The best time to get the "savings" is while the area is artificially depressed with LOTS of short sales.

My culture has a saying that laughing is the best medicine for your health.

I was just watching an episode of Flipping Vegas with my wife and laughing about the fake husband/wife drama and artificial renovation scenarios and numbers when I swore I heard the BiggerPockets podcast intro song during one of the scenes.

Needless to say that has artificially inflated prices for rental properties especially under $150k.So if you are looking to buy rentals- stay clear of the MLS and don't take recent sales comps at face value as a measure of ARVs; know expense calculations to know your true Net operating income; you will be surprised how it can often be way off than what most wholesales would have you believe.Let us know if we can assist in any way- our specialty is in providing data on finding & evaluating off-market deals.

The primary, if not only, reason there has been a brief spike in subsidized demand for housing in recent months (2012), has been the GSE/FHFA endorsed REO-To-Rental plan, and associated securitization conduits, in which large asset managers have been encouraged to take advantage of government funded, risk-free financing (and entirely bypassing banks who have given up on loan origination due to legacy liability issues which have every bank tied up in litigation from now until Feddom come - just see today's Bank of America results) and purchase foreclosed properties in bulk, with the intention of converting them into rental properties.http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-17/och-ziff-calls-top-reo-rental-exit-landlord-businessIt is no secret that in addition to the well-known phenomenon of "foreclosure stuffing", one of the primary drivers of the artificial housing "recovery" has been the surge of hedge funds and asset managers into purchases of rental units courtesy of near-zero cost REO-to-rent federal lending facilities, which have taken out distressed inventory from the market in hopes of converting it into rental.

Aren't current interest rates artificially low ?

I think pretty much any demo work involving walls and ceilings are going to disturb the paint.For example if you cut a hole 36" tall by 24" wide on old sheetrock to install a recessed medicine cabinet that is 6ft*2, is that how they calculate it?

I guess it's clear from his thoughts that he doesn't think Blackstone and so on are artificially inflating prices, or that the weakening middle class, or middle class debt (student loans, for example), or that our economy 70% based on consumer spending (read: a populace that can afford to buy things) are weakness to cause one to steer clear of long term holding of real estate.