Our results to date are reported on a monthly basis on the “Score” table on the Home page. We give you the current total value of TheMonopolyProject (TMP) as a combination of cash held (bank deposits) and the estimated equity of the real estate owned (= estimated value minus liabilities).

To determine how well TMP project is doing we compare it to the other financial investments we could have made with the $100,000. This is known as the ‘opportunity cost’. Note that we could also consider other, non-financial investment uses for the $100,000. We will discuss that later. Life is not all about optimizing financial outcomes in this kingdom.

We started TMP on March 1, 2019. On March 1st, 2019, all 10 investments started at the same nominal value, $100,000.

Now that November is completed, we have our results, the “Standings”. It’s easiest to think of this as a football or baseball sports league: The Financial League. We’re one of ten teams competing for First Place in the league.

‘Gold’ is still solidly in First Place. And the order of the investments is the same as last month. TheMonopolyProject is still in 5th place. But all investments have decreased, except VTSAX, the Total Stock Market Index.

Here’s a direct comparison of the last four months:

TheMonopolyProject formula for TOTAL EQUITY is:
TOTAL EQUITY of TMP = ‘Bank Account’ + ‘1 SHF – estimated equity’ = $103,193
How did we get to the ‘REO Owned Estimate of Equity’ of $44,271 for the month of November?
We used the arithmetic average of three websites (Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com) that estimate home values.

Note that both the Redfin and Realtor estimates decreased significantly. The Zillow estimate was up slightly.

You can see in the video that both Redfin and Realtor exhibit some strange behavior. I’m not sure if I’m picking off the wrong number or if they are retroactively changing the estimates? We had the same issues in the October 2019 report.

On the income side, we only had two transactions for the month; the rent minus the property management fee and the payment to the “Bank of Michelle”. But it’s somewhat misleading since we should account for other expenses such as HOA fees, property taxes, insurance and so forth. The income part of the equation is probably ‘break even’ at this point. Note that as the value increases, rents will in general increase also. We just need to be patient.