That would give you an apples to apples comparison in your own backyard.

Since you dont have a contract you are going off of trust and I would suggest not giving the entire spreadsheet to any investors you find because it only takes one bad apple to burn all your leads and rip you off if one of them comes through.

@Steven Torrez, Comparing your 401k returns with real estate returns may be like comparing apples to oranges. 401k returns are very passive with little input from you.Real estate returns can be alot better or worse depending on your strategy,talent,leverage, and level of involvement.REI can also be as active or passive as you want.As for your question about borrowing from it to get started and avoiding PMI costs, that makes total sense to me.Last year I converted my 401K to a self directed Solo 401K, and it has worked out very well.

With that many people calling themselves a Realtor, you're bound to find a bad apple or two...

Like all groups, there are a few bad apples that give the rest a bad name.There are plenty of legitimate wholesalers out there who are honest, do a great job, and jump through endless hoops to make sure everyone involved is satisfied with the outcome. 

But that's really not an apple's to apple's comparison.But at the early stages of your business in my opinion, you should not be thinking about quitting your day job right now.

Hey all wanted to revive this thread a bit as my experience with my current property manager in Bakersfield has thus far been a nightmare (won't answer calls/emails, haven't yet been paid) and so I'm looking to dump them asap but want to make sure I don't make the same mistake twice.Some background - I own a multi-unit in East Bakersfield that nets $2500-3000 a month, so looking for recommendations from people who own similar or smaller type buildings in the area (I think comparing experiences and reviews between my property and a larger 160 unit (for example) is like apples to oranges unfortunately).

I would do this calculation first by appling the 50% rule.  

But I am sure I am preaching to the choir.Personally I have used Google Docs and Keynote (Apple's equivalent to Powerpoint) with success.

One question on #2 (about the IRA not being allowed to have an, I guess we'll say "Exuberant," or beyond market average return): if an investor purchased any stock in the early years of some major corporations just before their future surge in value (Netflix, Apple, Google, etc), there would be no legal ramifications for the equity appreciation in that non-self directed IRA, right?