The third model I'd be looking at is the stochastic method to compare, contrast, or predict/forecast.

I stumbled upon it while looking for various podcasts in the investing world(stock, real estate, 401(k)s,IRAs, the works).

They are a consignment store so you will pay a 10-15% markup and then tax but they have cabinets in stock and they are half or less then what I see at Home Depot.They also have granite countertops in 8 or 10 foot lengths (I forget the exact)  these are precut with an edge finish on them.  

Tough to do that in the market and with market at all time highs it may be a ideal time to do it (but nobody can predict what the market will do).  

There is just no meat to most real estate investment books out there.Lastly "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham is about the stock market but I think that anyone who invests in anything should read it.

Those of us who have actually done our due diligence and passed on 99% of the "sure fire deals" that were presented to us in the past couple of years, and have CASH (or 20% down and STERLING CREDIT) to take to the market will find in the coming months that those sitting on 200 day plus listings will soften their stance on pricing.It's an axiom in the stock market and it should be in REI as well; "SELL on the good news, BUY on the bad!"

There are fewer jobs there than there were at the start of the 2001 recession.Fundamentals drive real estate investing, just as they drive the stock market.

We've followed their model in lockstep so far, from the runaway stock bubble that popped to a runaway RE bubble that popped, followed by a deflationary spiral that they've only recently begun to come back out of.

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/sox-bks-spx-hgx-indices-fed/index/a/19378Has some interesting information with how bad the stock market has done after each intervention by the government.Very interesting in the end..."

What alot of developers are doing today is leveraging their stock portfolio to add financial horse power to the deal.