There are 3 ways to value - The Cost Approach (Basically the cost to rebuild) The Sales Comparison (Comps) and the Income Approach (Valuing based on the income) Hope this is helpful.

My accountant said to just concentrate on 2015 entries for now and I can always go back and do 2014 for report and comparisons.

A house or a stock, economist discuss the advantages / disadvantages to investing in one asset vs the other.The article does a great job, in my opinion, of drawing a comparison between the two investment strategies.

But yes, you can make a killing (knowing what I know now) there in low-cost, decent neighborhoods that will return high yield on rents.There is still a ton of buildable land there (LA is bursting at the seams in comparison), I would look towards the outskirts.

I've been paying ridiculously low rent in comparison for the last ten years in the same place that it never made sense to buy. 

I had the assumption that I would be putting down 30% and getting lowest tier rates in the 5%-5.5% range.I mentioned above that this is my first RE investment, but I plan on doing several in sequence.

<g>If you want I can e-mail you a cost of operation comparison chart I worked out for all the different fuels. stephen------------Originally posted by John H.: We have a 1968ish trailer that will be rented out soon.

Airy, Overbrook, Northeast Philly, to name a few).I am not sure what governmental website you got the tax information from, but the Philadelphia percentage may be a comparison to the national average. 

James,When you are wanting to determine what a home is worth after it is repaired, you must compare that "subject property" to homes that are similar in terms of characteristics but that are fully remodeled.Before we get into the comparison factors I think its important to note that all neighborhoods are unique in two respects.#1 The Market Mix - The original builders could have varying floor plans, varying square footage's and varying stories however the overall neighborhood could also have varying home types such as Single Family Detached, Townhomes or some Multi-Family homes.#2 Randomness - We can not control what neighborhoods homeowners/investors have decided to completely repair/renovate which means that all neighborhoods will have drastically varying degrees of condition especially as these neighborhoods get "older".With that said here are the characteristics and data points you must "compare" in order properly analyze the ARV of a property.In no particular order:#1 Condition#2 Bed#3 Bath#4 SqFt#5 Lot SqFt#6 Age/Year Built#7 Relative Distance#8 Relative Sold Date#9 Property Type#10 Stories#11 Location - Near busy street/main road, power lines, canal, industrial buildingsSo basically just find 3 properties that closely match your property that have already been "fixed up".

There is no comparison between the markets.