It's not ALL better today, but I think that the data make an overwhelmingly strong case that it is much, much better to be alive and American in 2022 than it was in the 1980s across a broad range of important quantifiable items.I think that it always seems like the old days were better.

It becomes paramount to make sure you have the best available FHA (or other low down payment loan product) rate available on the market.Additionally, very few want a cashflow negative rental (especially as your first property) but if you can get to cashflow neutral I'd encourage you to think about your return as a combination of four things: cash flow, principal paydown, (potential) appreciation and tax benefitsThe first three can be quantified easily on a hypothetical $600,000 duplex.$0 cash flow + $8,000 principal paydown (rough calc) + $12,000 appreciation (2%) = $20,000Initial investment = 600k x 3.5% + $5,000 closing costs = $26,000So you'll on average, over the long term, even with $0 cash flow generate a return of $20,000+ per year on a $26,000 initial investment.

I will list the numbers that I used to quantify the properties potential monthly earnings and see if everyone feels the same about the property and my values.

That's what the IRR exists to quantify. 

You need to quantify the amount of immediate physical work the properties need. 

That's still a high "ATM withdrawal" fee, I realize.The cashflow improves a bit more than I thought though...its about +$250/month.Also, it's hard to quantify the opportunity costs of not cashing out, if it would mean the difference between acquiring another cashflowing rental a year or two sooner than without. 

When they said I had over 20% weeds, I made it clear to them in a phone call that if they were going to pursue a $1000 fine that they threatened me with, they would need to provide a quantifiable and repeatable method for measuring the weed saturation.

You can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars or more trying to save a couple thousand.Most investors are good at quantifying risk on a purchase then get uncle Bill in to do a Renovation or hire high school kids to do the demo… it’s bad business, and the risks don’t justify the rewards.

Even if prices do cool soon (and there are some signals that they will), that’s a much more palatable outcome than a collapse.A more in-depth breakdown of how to quantify appreciation prospects can be found in our market analysis.

It's hard to accurately quantify this but if you're looking at multi-family I think it's probably going to make sense.