I would take your estimated return on any investment and multiply it by a risk factor two calculate your ROI from real estate.

After taxes, what's your estimated take-home profit? 

Take any repair estimates with you to the protest such as Roof Repair, Mold damage, Foundation repairs etc , and request a Property value reduction due to the condition of the property.   

Purchase price $50,000.00, estimated rehab $110k, ARV of $275k.

You can use roughly $40/month to estimate the costs of holding a performing note.

We are estimating a 12 to 18 month eviction process. 

By my own estimations I have added 30-40k of equity to the property (and some of that was naturally occurring with our current real estate market being inflated).

I have made some estimates on cost, and I have already visited the site with several different contractors to affirm my thoughts on Rehab. 

Waco,TXThis week, I bought a property at a county tax sale with estimated cap gains of 100k if I resale the property now.

I can't seem a large benefit of REI in a case where you have to put 20% down in an average market.Ex:20% on $500k move-in ready duplex where about $1k cash flow (ideal scenario)Assumptions - 6% housing appreciation, Stock 6% appreciation (conservative estimates)Profit- House appreciation 6%/year- Mortgage paydown and it's 6% appreciation/year- Cashflow invested back into mortgage paydown+/- tax deductionsExpense- interest payment, taxes, home insurance, maintenance ~ roughly 1k a/f deduction (conservative est, probably alot more)VSOpportunity Cost- Down payment 20% = 100k in mutual fund 6% return/yr- $1k/month expenses that could be contributed to mutual fundYes there are still alot of variables- housing and stock appreciation/return will vary depending on location/time/stock- did not exactly calculate out the tax deductions / expenses but made a conservative estimate in favor of REI- did not include time and fees dealing with REI transactions vs just working a few more hours at my jobWhat i'm seeing is that in a scenario where someone will not be building sweat equity or finding a crazy discounted deal on a property and going through a conventional 20% in an "average market", the argument doesn't seem as strong for REI vs mutual funds/stock - they seem to be pretty close if you take into account the variables mentioned above.