My conclusion is that I am either going to lower my deductibles so that I actually get some statistical return, or I am going to drop the insurance altogether (again, except for a nice hefty umbrella liability policy).Here's the stats: http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/homeowners-and-r...Disclaimer - as far as I know this is for single family residences only. 

@Ryan Mullin  the Joys of BP  inexperienced buyers with their version of  events then the soap box starts.Its why I posted that ( the way she posted this there is only one conclusion to be made) Keep up the good work... 

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

My conclusion is that if you buy in this market right now there's no or very little cash flow, period.

I'm not really following your conclusion here regarding vacancy trend.

I even brought my commercial banker out with me from Oregon to Detroit.. and the conclusion of this appraiser was that these areas of the country are transitioning from homeownership to rental purposes and that GRM is an acceptable way to come to a value or substantiate a sale price to an owner who's intention is to buy a ready to go rental based on a certain cash flow..

Through trial and error, I keep coming to same conclusion that the availability of capital, speed and predictability of terms are more important than rate and points.As far as deal flow for flips, that has been the problem.

While this may be a logical conclusion it is often seen as unjust enrichment to the lender as the lender would not have collected the additional $3k in cash.  

@Scott Costello Thanks for the info, I'm happy to consider new information, I just haven't had any conclusive evidence yet.

I realize I'm getting into the weeds on high level numbers which can lead to some incorrect conclusions.