., This is the best forum of real estate help I have found on the web.

Can you tell us if you've had any project, either those you've sponsored on portals such as iFunding and/or deals on your own RealStarter portal, that didn't meet published investor expectations; or where investors experienced a loss; or the deal had to be worked out and investors didn't get repaid timely and less than originally led to believe?  

has anyone ever done a web search on themselves?  

Maybe I'll publish a blog with our findings if we can get enough responses. 

@Sandy UhlmannThere are a lot of factors that go into making such a decision, such as your age, the expected return on investment, current income & tax rates, expected tax rates in retirement, etc.Generally speaking, the longer you will have the account and the higher the rate of return, the more likely you will achieve the desired result, which is access to more after-tax cash in retirement.There are many good calculators out there on the web that can help you get a rough idea of the concept, but a conversation with a licensed professional who will help you look at all of the short term and long term variables is the right way to go.A basic consideration is that the distributable amount in the converted Roth needs to equal or exceed the after-tax distributable amount of the traditional IRA + the personal cash you use to perform the conversion.Converting before the account starts producing higher returns can be to your advantage.  

@Karen MargraveThe biggest thing for me is having a web presence.  

Seems like there is wealth of information here to read through - loving the pod and web casts.Looking forward to being part of the community.CheersRich

What Lucas said has a good basis in the renter data (which is sobering) out in this study from last year on the financial state of renters in the US: http://www.finrafoundation.org/web/groups/foundati...Short answer: be rigorous but realistic

Trouble with a lot of books is that were published so long ago the housing market they describe no longer exists.That said, what did you try which didn't work?

Unfortunately, this analysis published yesterday by the SF Federal Reserve doesn't analyze commercial real estate, or "hot" markets vs cold markets (or the SF Bay, which is getting overheated).