Bad underwriting is the primary failure point for most IRR comparisons, and it makes it tough to make apples-to-apples comparisons across various sponsors/brokers/investors because some underwrite very reasonably, or even conservatively, others underwrite aggressively, and yet others underwrite as if they live on another planet.Another consideration is that what is desirable to you in an investment dictates which performance indicator to focus on most. 

Was just thinking that maybe the contractor was not talking apples to apples.

This year, I started to look at Austin, especially Milwood area near Apple campus.

I'm trying to find a great property manager to handle a 7-unit apartment in Apple Valley, California.  

However, it's not really an apples to apples comparison. 

Community center with pool, tennis, etc - 1min walkSchool district: 5-6-7Driving distances:Costco - 14minWalmart - 10minLakeline shopping mall - 11minAnd to the Tech side of things (big part of my speculation)Apple/Oracle/Accenture/TriNet - 7minElectronic Arts - 5minAmazon - 12minIBM - 12minDell - 14minVisa - 7minFlex - 6minCisco - 6minNvidia - 9minNational Instruments - 11minSamsung - 20min (insanely huge factory)Everyone above are huge huge employers with 100s-1000s of jobs and constantly hiring & expanding.Amazon is expanding to 800 new employees in “The Domain” new offices by 2020.Google expansion downtown Austin - 5000 new people, 800k sqft by 2022And to the best one!

Community center with pool, tennis, etc - 1min walkSchool district: 5-6-7Driving distances:Costco - 14minWalmart - 10minLakeline shopping mall - 11minAnd to the Tech side of things (big part of my speculation)Apple/Oracle/Accenture/TriNet - 7minElectronic Arts - 5minAmazon - 12minIBM - 12minDell - 14minVisa - 7minFlex - 6minCisco - 6minNvidia - 9minNational Instruments - 11minSamsung - 20min (insanely huge factory)Everyone above are huge huge employers with 100s-1000s of jobs and constantly hiring & expanding.Amazon is expanding to 800 new employees in “The Domain” new offices by 2020.Google expansion downtown Austin - 5000 new people, 800k sqft by 2022And to the best one!

BP has a spreadsheet or two I believe that will help you out.Might be hard to project IRR for a start-up to do an apples to apples comparison....Also don't forget the transaction costs to dispose of the property in your calc (selling costs). 

I am saying it is pretty easy to weed out the ‘bad apples’ by simply looking at the quality of pictures, amenities, the verbiage of the description, and reviews.

You can do the best work and have a magnetic persona but you just cant do these without a good contract.