To think that the little guy can beat the market consistently over time seems extremely unlikely.It seems pointless to me to talk about "what if" you'd invested in Google, WM, Apple, Fed Ex, Microsoft, whatever.

Rent raises under this policy should occasion neither a mass revolt nor a mass exodus of your tenants because they should come to understand that your rent raises are fair and, therefore, acceptable.This policy should involve six elements - careful preparation, proper timing, extended lead time, reasonable increments, amicable notices, and personal contact.Careful preparation for rent raises consists of much more than merely preparing the notices to change terms of tenancy.

also are u consistantly getting deals in these states each month?

Your blog should also answer the main question on people's mind: "How is the market where I live", be sure not to use alot of "Agent speak" and be consistent.

Stay consistant as well.

I simply call it "my team" and that team consists of all that Jason named along with top REO brokers, my listing agent (my wife is not my agent as Jason has), my two asset manager contacts, and my escrow/title company.If you are a buy and holder, you still need a team, but that team is much smaller.

The only consistent thing about my day is that it is consistently inconsistent.

Consistent and persistent.Work so that you want to, NOT that you have to!!!

Some kept up with inflation, some lost ground, but several exceeded it.Looking at my market of Orange County, which isn't even tracked separately by Case-Shiller (it's lumped together with Los Angeles), we see the following graph:http://bp2.blogger.com/_pMscxxELHEg/SBzkxMncv2I/AAAAAAAAB7Q/CIkleG-LYaY/s1600-h/OCprices.jpgEven though the graph stops at the beginning of 2008, I have data from the Orange County Register that shows our median home price hit bottom at the beginning of 2009 (consistent with Case-Shiller data).

I'm going to be proud to one day tell other new investors similar stories when I get older, knowing that less than 10% of them will actually enter the industry and less than 5% will become successful consistently.