My agent said I might not want to make too low of an offer and end up in a multiple offer situation rising up the price.

@James PostI don't know much about Wilkes Barre, but commercial projects in Allentown are plentiful (10,000 seat arena, mid-rises, etc.).

I was perusing my portfolio and took a peek at what zillow had them valuedI compared this with what the county had assessed as real value for tax purposes they were all off by 10,000   plus or minus from each othermy thought was that the county may inflate the valuebut in some instances zillow was a bit higher than the county on a couple of propertiesanyone else have a handle on how to read between the lines of these numbersto get a quick guestimate. without getting to heavily involved with comps.

Originally posted by @Ali Boone:Notes are great, but the biggest bummer about them is you do miss out on a lot of the financial benefit that owning real property gives- equity build, tax benefits, etc.Another is that notes don't hedge you against inflation unless you're actively trading them up.

Another interesting Los Angeles RE article. http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/the-rising-pric...

I know that overwhelming feeling so well :-)Keep rising to the top... little by little I bet you will be the expert you are aiming to become.Make it a GREAT day,Manny

We know we bought in an area of rising values but his expertise on the timeline for a more expensive rehab based on rental rate potential was valuable.

The property Property $200,000 Down Payment 20% - $40,000 4 unit complex – rent per unit $800/month ($3200/mo total) 2% Rule – at 2% this property would rent for $4,000/mo This property is at 1.6% 50% rule – 50% of rental income will go toward expenses This property would be $1600/month This expenses include – repairs, vacancies, utilities, taxes, insurance, managements, turnover costs, and occasional big ticket repairs Net Operating Income – NOI Income after fees, these would be the fees listed in the 50% rule and do not include principle and interest For this property - $1600 (not the true number, but based on 50% rule) Cash flow Any money left after subtracting principle and interest from NOI Prinicple and Interest – 30 yr fixed at 4% on $160,000 - $764/mo Cash flow = $3200 - $1600 (NOI) - $764 (P&I) = $836/mo or $10,032/yr Cap Rate Annual NOI/purchase price $19,200/200,000 = 9.6% Return on investment of $40,000 over 30 year life of mortgage Cash flow - $10,032 annual return – 25.1% return 30 years = $300,960 This is a conservative estimate since this money could obviously be re-invested as it was received monthly and the rent would be increased to reflect inflation over the 30 year period Property value at 3% appreciation for 30 years $485,452 30 year total return on $40,000 485,452+300,960 = $786,412 This is a ~10.5% annual return on investment $40,000 invested in stocks/mutual funds at 7% would have returned $304,49I believe this is all correct, but wanted to get some feedback to confirm my understandings of these concepts was correct.  

In SW Florida, I expect prices to continue to rise for some time further squeezing out certain people from being able to rent in the more desirable areas.

Sometime I would say something about a current deal but would add what I am really looking for at the moment is someone with some money that they have earning money in a savings account at 1% and are losing 3% to inflation.