ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Don't know about other rental owners, but I don't include appreciation of property when figuring the profit I make. As with the BRK, I don't figure I've made anything till it sells. Unlike BRK, there is liable to be a long stretch between offering a rental for sale and getting a check, which is a big BRK advantage. I do use the tax man's "real market value" to divide into the rental profit, so the higher he says the value is the lower my stated profit percentage is. I do use the tax man's RMV when figuring our net worth, but that is just for guesstimating - when we sell it will be for an unknown amount and the taxes and costs of sale will be substantial.
Yes, it's hard to compare an extremely liquid investment like BRK (or any big index or stock) to a less liquid (maybe very il-liquid, like years) RE holding. And I just realized, I'm not hit with X% commission to sell BRK or SPY (3%, 6%?).
Again, it might be just the ticket for some. I find the lack of diversity with a bunch of local RE holdings scary, but that's just me.
-ERD50