@Mike H.I think it’s funny you compare buying rentals in 2010 to today saying it’s apples to apples.

Old apple orchard. 

Hi everyone,I am a small STR investor and in the past few years I have been investing in both stocks and real estatewith COC returns of about 20% for the past 3 years.I am considering diversifying my portfolio with LTR and I know that returns there are going to be a lot smaller.So I was curious to know if there was a rough formula that could include mortgage paydown, tax advantages, and estimated appreciationto be able to compare apples with apples.I am only familiar with Cashflow, CoC, Cap Ex, and IRR.

For an apples to apples comparison, you have to look at the IRR.

Being able to see their pricing and occupancy along with the product they are selling is more "apples to apples" and gives me an idea of what I have to do to compete. 

If you need education, you should go to a Barnes and Noble and look for real estate books vs. handing thousands over to a guru

I heard Google and Apple is moving to Durham.

In the past couple weeks I began the process of doing a cash out refi with a local bank to pay off an owner finance note I have on the property and to put an additional $30-40k in landscaping, a barn, and a few other items like front porch decking.

Currently, we are converting a barn into an ADU and JADU.

It's apples and oranges to comment from the institutional lending perspective on guys that just want to invest their personal funds and make paper.