Louis, MO Purchase price: $50,000 (short sale) - aunt was agent, so fee was waived (she was helping us out) - borrowed money from grandma for the down payment: $13,000 Material costs: $8000I forgot to itemize everything over the course of the four years, but the improvements were: -blown in insulation-tile floor in kitchen-new bathroom flooring x2-new basement carpet-new basement flooring (previous was rotted through) -new carpet in bedroom x2-hard wood flooring refinished-new refrigerator-painted entire interior of the house-installed two custom closets in bedrooms-repaired and repainted the garage-tore out dinning room drop ceiling, installed drywall ceilingAll the work was done by us, save the hardwood floors.Sale Price: $108,000 less: -$6000 in fees (man I need to get a real estate license) -$5000 in concessions Net: $43,000 $108,000-$33,000 left on the note-$13,000 to grandma-$6000 fees-$5000 concessions-$8000 material costsThe problem that I have is how to value this in terms of holding costs.

Does anyone know a way around this, or if having the titles in only one persons name is significantly different/expensive/harder in terms of setting up trusts? 

With market rates high all over, i am trying to understand what kind of property makes more sense in terms of returns.

You can hold on your RE bay area  investment plan for possible other alternatives, such as equivalent investment in out of the state buy and hold rental properties that will provide better returns in terms of the equivalent ratios, or keep your money locked at this time.For other investment plan alternative besides lending your money for passive income, PM me and we can discuss in detail how you can structure your RE investment plan as possible suitable GAP investment  you can control while timing for your next move in bay area RE buy and hold for rent in the next cycle, if there ever is going to be an opportunity.

In terms of the easement-I would go down to Nashville storm water on 800 2nd Ave and talk to the storm water dept to tell you what their requirements are in terms of that drainage system.

A good starting point for new investors in terms of price point would be SE DC and PG County. 

In terms of interest rate, I think your lender will be more concerned with down payment, credit history, etc.  

Hersh, it is my opinion that studying the history of past bubbles can be educational but far from instructive in terms of predicting future ones.

Some of the graphs almost look flat in terms of market appreciation and now that we're back at or slightly above the old market peak, the projections are scary.The rental market is increasing quickly over here which means that it'll be more advantageous to have cashflowing properties rather than buy and hope for further appreciation.

-  Is there any way around this obstacle in terms of using my own money to invest?