Many mortgage industry experts oppose this measure, as they believe will be detrimental to housing finance as a whole.

You're mixing the relationships of assets and income, they are two different matters and rather independent from each other, your balance sheet measures your financial position at a point in time with respect to assets, liabilities and net worth, your income statement measures the performance of the use of assets and management over a period of time.

I'm glad I was able to avoid more drastic measures but really appreciated having those options at my disposal.

I was trying to describe the difference between Actual and Projected income from the property.In my current market, if the broker came with a property with an actual GRM of 12, but a reason he thinks income could rise so it'd be closer to a GRM of 10 within 12 months, I'm interested.You and I sing the same song on evaluating properties in this thread and others - I think the main point is that CAP rate is not a measure of whether something is a good investment.  

I would add a way of measuring your return on investment like estimated resale or estimated operating income depending on your plan to flip or rent.  

I dont live in the cheapest area of the metro by any measure, but I have a mortgage that is probably as cheap as many people in the midwest, because I chose to save a higher down payment, and chose to live in a house that was a lot cheaper than I could afford.

From there you can formulate an expected IRR and some measurements of risk. 

There are a ton of things that are going on here with the new rent control measure being pushed by the city to the West Oakland Development Plan underway as week speak to the Golden State Warriors killing it in the Finals! 

One site that can give you a general idea of costs for your area is www.homewyse.comAdditionally, as concerns standards of quality, that is almost entirely affected by solid communication: you and your husband being perfectly clear to the contractor as to what you expect, as well as he or she asking questions, taking good notes and measurements, writing a thorough estimate, and a detailed contract (min. 10-12 pages in my opinion).

Tell them to bring their camera, tape measure, mother in law and whatever else they need to make a decision but its too much to ask of the current tenant for a prospect to have multiple showings of an occupied place.