Focus in on houses that are discounted for a reason that you can fix like roofs, vandalism, poor upkeep, or just ugly... you will be able to improve those features and increase the value of the home... you will not see an ROI on jacking up the entire house 24" so that you have a crawl space. 

Then I go through 6 major systems/features (electrical, HVAC, plumbing, roof, windows and foundation) for defects or issues.

PM me if you're interested in getting the numbers I find.Best,JonHi Jon,I said "average drop of -35%" as that would be a ballpark figure for the overall LA market, according to your data, but risk could be different taking into account the particular features of a property, its specific location etcMany concepts from the stock market can be applied to real estate investing, like volatility, maximum drawdown, etc.. it is possible to get an idea of what those figures may be for a particular market observing historical data. 

If you're using a property management software, I would make use of their marketing/listings feature too, since they usually post listings to a variety of websites.

Also keep in mind an A where I invest may be a B where you do.The main contributing factors to determine grades are: location, features/amenities, condition, and age of property.  

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My wife and I currently occupy one unit of our first triplex.I was turned on to biggerpockets by another small time local investor.I have been a big fan of the podcasts, but am unfamiliar with the website.Is there a search feature where i can look up content in the forums/blog?

I like the search features: https://www.biggerpockets.com/searchAlerts can be really helpful too: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

.;   Average rent per Zillow is $1950 but our neighbor rents same size house as ours for $2300 and our house has more "features" than hers.4. 

If you re-route the drain pipes and it still floods I'd probably start digging for a french drain but you really need to look and see if the drainage issue is due to a landscape feature of the property.