The few times I have gotten off the freeway for gas or a restaurant, I wasn't entirely impressed with what I saw, but again, I never ventured much further than freeway close.If you think you have a deal, you better get a good contractor to go through that house with a keen eye and a sharp pencil while you still have time left on your inspection period.

Seriously - two days ago, I kind of rolled my eyes every time Bob started in on someone about Cap Rates and their (lack of) understanding about them - but this analogy makes perfect sense to me.

I want to develop an eye for it.

But tenacity, and keeping my eye on the larger goal (early retirement with plenty of cash flow), has kept me in the game, and I'm glad I did.

@Danielle E. Yes

can you calculate it or is it something you get an eye for after a while?

so I've been eyeing a property in the next state. it was on the market for 20k and seemed like a great rental opportunity.

If not, please let me know where I should ask the following:I've come across some real eye sores of buildings during my travels around the Unites States.

The Bay Area core just doesn't have the stomach to go high density, so RE price has no way to go but up.5% annual appreciation for the next 20 years is very likely IMO.Interestingly enough, I wonder what will self-driving cars do to local RE.

We're eyeing a property in the Philippines (my hometown) so the actual numbers are huge (in millions) but I roughly converted the values in dollars for easier analysis.