Let's assume I'm working in a vacuum, where there is no appreciation, no debt, stable rents, and the 50% rule applies.

You would have to meet the 2% rule and get lucky on the 50% guideline to meet your objective but it is do-able and without any appreciation The rub is that in order to sustain that level of growth on a compounding basis you need to re invest the income at the same rate and also you need reserves.

-Steven the Tax GuyYour guide to IRS laws, rules and regulations.

I wonder how many of his rules can be translated to real estate investing?

David , please excuse my rambling, you asked if your thinking is sound.Check out the 2% 50% rule or guide line .

I look for rents of 1.5% of purchase price at a minimum, and if I'm going that low the utilities need to be tenant paid.The reason for that is given a 25% down payment and current conventional rates, I can achieve a 15% CoC return (using the 50% rule).

Not sure the rule on posting articles, but I've been following this concept very closely since the RFI announcement in August 2011.

Your rules are sort of OK - the reason I say "sort of" is that I would phrase everything as "Tenant agrees to _______" and then fill in the blank with the concept you are trying to express.

There are no hard rules of mentoring relationships, especially with family.

I try to buy places using the 2% rule based on purchase price+renovations+closing costs.