So, 40 years later Still learningHaving fun making moneyUnemployed and no desire to work for anyoneWorking tax sales, developing commercial propertiesAuctioneer, broker and advisor to city and state government Teaching others real estate formulas, ethics and contract engineeringI'd say take the course, you got to get something out of it for a buck......

Your formula makes sense but it would also indicate that a home that has a lot of built in appreciation will always give a low return.  

The shocking part was that I went all the way through a finance degree specializing in real estate investment at a 4 year university and learned the formulas and theories but none of the significance of how these concepts applied to real life.When you're in class and the professor asks you to explain why you add back depreciation after figuring out net income all I could think about at the time was to memorize the process just to get extra credit or pass the course.

That's right--INVERSELY.Keep this in mind when listening to a so-called "pundit" that tells you which stock to buy, what is going to happen with the economy, which cities are most likely to appreciate, etc.The more certain they are, the less correct they probably are.Use your own formulas, do your own research, keep posting specific questions on Bigger Pockets about a particular deal--but there is no certainty in investments.

There are a few simple formulas that are popular to do a quick screening on whether or not a rental makes sense.

reading books and networking also helped.I learned many of the tricks and creative stuff they were teachingSome of the courses were great, others just sucked the green out of my jeans.I started attending public auction - buying war zone houses - using credit cards and credit lines - borrowed money and the really biggie creative financingThe most important thing I learned about about creative financing is that I DID NOT need to suck up to lenders - yippeeI than discovered a cross pollination of the concepts of creative financing - the synergism of ideas helped me develop new creative financing techniques.Some of those formulas I still use today to close transactionsI work a formula known as Control and Roll - this is a system of controlling real estate with little or no money and assigning the contract within 3 weeks for cash using the auction method of marketing - this system circumvents all of those who want to slow an investors down - like banks - underwriters - inspections - condition of property - agents and others.During those struggling days - I also used a system called "Check Funds" this allowed me to control many buildings without the need for down payment money.Hybrid offers is another one of my pet formulas - this is where the seller becomes a partnerDelayed settlement techniques - with soft contingencies - getting automatic extensions without the need of being rejected.

Which formula should I follow when buying a buy and hold multifamily property?

We have seen around 20 houses and have crunched up the numbers according to a formula we were taught by an experience investor, however, the majority of the offers haven't even been close to what the sellers want to here.

Use that info, to drive your purchase price down to a MAO like formula. 

*Use a formula involving sq. footage of the house.