I strongly dislike the continued pressure of HomeAway to be in control of property for which they have contributed nothing and want to position myself with data and system independent of them but one which is compatible with HomeAway and is inexpensive. 

See Uniform Capitalization Rules earlier.The costs you can choose to deduct or to capitalize include the following.Carrying charges, such as interest and taxes, that you pay to own property, except carrying charges that must be capitalized under the uniform capitalization rules;Research and experimentation costs;Intangible drilling and development costs for oil, gas, and geothermal wells;Exploration costs for new mineral deposits;Mining development costs for a new mineral deposit;Costs of establishing, maintaining, or increasing the circulation of a newspaper or other periodical; andCosts of removing architectural and transportation barriers to people with disabilities and the elderly.

My son (a budding RE investor who encouraged me to join this site) has been pushing for us to explore this option.

We use a newer cell carrier and pay $40 month for the both of us on smart phone plans (unlimited text/data).

We replace the lists with fresh data every 6 months and keep on rolling...But there are special groups like expired listings or tax liens or divorce that we might just hit once or twice near the event and not necessarily continue mailing to them.Also, think about how DIRECT MAIL fits into your larger marketing strategy - we also like OUTDOOR (billboards, bandits, etc.) and ONLINE (AdWords).  

Keep on exploring BP, there is so much great info on this site, and good luck with getting your license!

I have my own dedicated server in a data center. 

I also heard of a few other sites since this forum has started and will explore that as well. 

For those of you with a buy & hold strategy and aren't afraid of MFRs, considering the below data, would you move forward with this opportunity or not?

This industry has a lot of opportunity for people who can process data and information, quickly.