The 27% Bank Account

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The 27% Bank Account

by Tom Dyson, editor,
The 12% letterfor DailyWealth January 2008

In his professional life, Thomas Lewis has one goal... producing dividends every single month.
Some companies produce shoes. Some companies produce golf balls. Some companies build houses. Lewis' company produces monthly dividends. It operates under the trademark "The Monthly Dividend Company." No joke. Every breath, flinch, twitch, or blink management makes is geared toward paying bigger dividends to shareholders.

And Lewis' single-minded obsession is paying off: Since the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994, shareholders have made an average total return of 27% a year.

There isn't another stock in America – or even the world – like this. As I'll show you, this investment is safer than a bank account, a CD, or a Treasury bond, yet it pays out magnificent returns. This is the best risk-reward income play I have ever found…

Some companies pay dividends because they have to. Others pay dividends when they can. There are high dividends, low dividends, special dividends, dividends that fluctuate, and dividends that grow...

But no company has ever approached its dividend payments the way Thomas Lewis' company does.

Take its annual reports, for example. The company releases the most investor-friendly reports around. The CEO writes his letters to shareholders in plain English. The reports present statistics with simple graphics. And the business? It's so easy to understand, analyzing this company felt like an afternoon with the Sunday paper.

The theme of the 2006 report is "Monthly Dividend Land." Each section takes you through an imaginary world where you "accumulate shares at every twist and turn on the road that leads to monthly dividends for life."

In his summary of 2006 results, Lewis writes: "Our most important accomplishment is that we were able to pay 12 monthly dividends and increase the dividend five times during 2006."

This company's corporate quest is to provide dividend income for its owners. "This philosophy colors every decision the company makes, dollar it spends, management discussions, and all of the employees' activities undertaken each day," says the COO.

I've never seen a company with such total dedication to its dividend. But do these guys walk the walk? You bet they do...

The Monthly Dividend Company is in its 38th year of business. As of January 1, 2008, the Monthly Dividend Company had paid 448 consecutive monthly dividends and 40 consecutive quarterly dividend increases. The annual dividend has grown from $0.90 in 1994 to $1.64 last month.

Here's what some current shareholders had to say about their company:
"I'm retired and I live off SS. It is my largest holding... and has been for years now. It makes up 30% of my portfolio. This is one stock I will never sell."
"I have been reinvesting my divvies for the last 3 years. It's amazing how fast my monthly payments have grown... I just wish I'd bought more."
"I've owned this stock since 1998. I can't imagine selling it. My original shares pay a 15% dividend and have risen 175%. That's better than 20% per year."

The Monthly Dividend Company's official name is Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O). From here on, I'll refer to it as "the MDC."Why Retail Businesses Want a Landlord

In December 2006, 12% Letter readers bought McDonald's Corporation. Most people think McDonald's is a burger-flipping company. The reality is, the franchisees flip the burgers and manage the restaurants. McDonald's owns the properties and collects 9% royalties. In other words, McDonald's is just a glorified landlord.

The MDC uses a similar model. It buys property from convenience stores, gas stations, and fast-food restaurants. It then leases it back to store operators through long-term contracts. The retail chains get a cash-injection to grow their businesses. The MDC gets the property and a 9% rental yield.

That's it. It's a very simple model. In the industry, this arrangement is called a "sale-leaseback."

But you and I can think of the MDC as a retail landlord.

Unlike McDonald's, the MDC is set up as a REIT, so it pays no corporate tax as long as it distributes all of its profits back to shareholders each year in dividends.

Sale-leasebacks release valuable capital from unproductive, volatile assets, like property, and allow business owners to focus capital on their core business. The stock market rewards companies that grow earnings with much higher multiples than asset-rich companies, so sale-leasebacks push up share prices.

And private-equity groups and corporate raiders use sale-leasebacks to raise money for their takeovers. Conversely, asset-rich companies use sale-leasebacks to make themselves less attractive to the raiders.

Right now, the sale-leaseback business is hot. The financial world has figured out that retail companies have hidden treasure in their balance sheets.

Over the last 10 years, the MDC has averaged $220 million per year in new property acquisitions. In 2006, using exactly the same strategies and underwriting standards it has always used, it acquired $770 million... that's 3.5 times its regular volume. The Highest Occupancy Rates in the Business

This business is simple. Generating 27% annual returns for shareholders year after year is NOT. It's extraordinary. Let me show you how the MDC works:

The company opened for business in 1970. It currently owns 1,929 properties in 48 different states. Convenience stores and fast-food restaurants combined make its largest holding. But it also leases property to theaters, day-care centers, gasoline stations, and auto shops. Here's the breakdown:

Auto-related 18.9% Restaurants 17.8% Misc. Retailers 17.3% Convenience Stores 14.1%
Theaters 9.4% Child Care 8.9% Other 13.6%



Occupancy is the single-greatest concern for a landlord. An empty building is like a dairy cow that doesn't produce milk. A few vacant buildings will rip holes in your monthly dividend payouts.

The MDC achieves long-term occupancy rates of 98.5%. Through inflation, including the hyperinflation of the 1970s, recessions, wars, long bond rates from 18% to 4%… the MDC has never had more than 2.5% of its property vacant. Right now, 98.7% of its properties are occupied. These rates are the best in the industry – by far – and the chief reason the MDC is such a successful company.

So what's the secret to high occupancy?

This isn't the Cape Cod vacation-rental business. The MDC seeks retailers to occupy its properties and pay rent for 15 to 20 years at a clip. Selecting the right retail chain is the first step... and definitely the most important.

The MDC invests primarily in retailers that provide basic human needs... like cheap food, gas, or auto repairs. These businesses are the last to suffer in a recession. The MDC does not put more than 20% of its portfolio in any one industry or more than 10% of its portfolio in a single retail chain.

The industry divides retailers into three classes: venture, middle, and upper market. Venture-market retailers are the smallest chains, with fewer than 50 outlets. Typically, they sell a new retail concept. They don't have geographic diversity or experience in softer markets.

Middle-market retailers have between 50 and 500 locations in more than one geographic area. They have a proven, reliable concept and experience trading in different economic conditions. Credit ratings may border on junk. Middle-market retailers tend to be more recognizable.

Depending on where you live, you've probably heard of National Tire & Battery (car parts and service), Children's World (day-care), Wawa (convenience stores), and Zaxby's (restaurants).
The upper market is made of national chains with mature products and more than 500 outlets. They have investment-grade credit ratings and long trading histories.

The MDC likes middle-market retailers. Here's why:

Middle-market retailers need cash to fund growth. But unlike the national chains, poor credit ratings make other financing options expensive.

They have experience overcoming the managerial and operational obstacles that often trip up the venture retailers.

They can spread corporate expenses across a large number of stores.

They have the critical mass to survive even if some locations close.

Middle-market retailers grow stronger financially as their businesses mature. That means, given the risks, middle-market retailers offer the best investment returns of any market class, the MDC believes.

Even if the worst happens and a retail chain falls on hard times, the MDC still has little to worry about. It hasn't loaned any money to its tenants... just leased land. Worst-case scenario, the tenant is unable to pay the rent. Even this is unlikely. The company only invests in the best locations. These will be the last properties a retail chain shuts down in a reorganization or downsizing. The banks and bondholders may not be so lucky.Ivy League Appraisal Standards
The MDC's investment process makes MIT admissions look slapdash.

The company provides fantastic service to cash-strapped retailers. Retailers know it closes big, complex deals in a hurry. No one else can handle these deals.

Everyday, the MDC receives dozens of offers from retailers looking to enter sale-leaseback transactions. Like MIT applications, most of them get turned away.

The MDC has a fully staffed research team. It trawls the country looking for properties that meet the company's strict investment criteria. When it makes a match, it will grill the management team, tear apart the audited financial statements, and study its competitors. Then it studies the industry's history and outlook. Finally, the team will visit every location in the chain, shooting film clips of the property and preparing the key statistics to take back to the MDC's investment committee in California.

The MDC's CEO, president, CFO, and general council sit on the investment committee. These four executives spend every Friday watching hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of videos of the properties under consideration.

During 2006, the committee reviewed more than $5 billion worth of potential transactions, but acquired only $770 million in new properties. In other words, it bought about 15% of the properties presented by the research team. (MIT accepted 16% of its 2007 applications.)More Competitive Advantage

Let's pretend you have $200 million to invest in property and two weeks to close a deal. You could buy an office building. You could buy a warehouse. You could buy a stadium. You could buy a hospital. Or you could buy a portfolio of 100 small retail locations.

I don't know which one you would choose, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't choose the retail portfolio. For one thing, you'd need to deal with 100 different tenants and administer 100 different properties. The deal would be more complicated. Your investment appraisal would be more costly, and your return would be less certain. That's why big institutional property investors steer clear of this niche. It's a hassle.

But they're the reasons this space offers higher rental yields than most other sectors. You could say that the MDC's ability to manage a large portfolio of small companies is its true competitive advantage.

So how does it pull off this tricky business so well?

Firstly, the MDC can close large deals quickly. It has the staff to analyze opportunities, advanced IT systems to deal with the sudden influx of new properties, and immediate access to a large pool of capital.

Second, the MDC has strong control over its portfolio. Sometimes an attractive deal contains a few undesirable properties, or the MDC portfolio may become overly concentrated on one industry. The company owns a specialist resale business that sells the properties the MDC doesn't want, using tax-deferred (IRS form 1031) exchanges.

Third, the MDC uses triple-net leases. Under a triple-net lease, the tenant pays the utility bills, insurance costs, maintenance, and property taxes. The MDC owns 1,929 properties in 48 states. That's a lot to manage. Triple-net leases make it easier to be a landlord. The majority, 98.4%, of the company's leases are triple net.Own 1,929 Properties with no Mortgage Debt

In 2006, the MDC added 378 new properties, 100% leased, with an average lease length of 16.7 years and an average lease yield of 8.6%.

The company uses a $300 million revolving credit facility to purchase properties. Once the properties are secure, it issues new stock or bonds to finance the investment over the long term. As a REIT, it can't retain earnings, so it has to finance new properties this way. In 2006, it issued five common stock, preferred stock, and unsecured-bond offerings.

The MDC has an excellent credit rating... as you'd expect from a company with a 37-year history of raising dividends with minimal debt on its balance sheet. This allows it to borrow money at virtually the same rates available to banks, local governments, and the largest American corporations.

Here's another way of thinking about the MDC's business: The sale-leaseback is a loan. The MDC borrows money at investment-grade rates near 6% and lends it at 9% junk rates to its middle-market retailers.

As an aside, the MDC never uses mortgages to finance its property investments. It never has. Nor does it use secured debt. In other words, it uses its excellent credit rating to borrow money, not its property portfolio. This means no one else has a claim on its property. And it frees up more rental revenue to pay monthly dividends. It also allows the MDC to keep a super-conservative, unleveraged balance sheet.

15% Returns with Less Risk than a Bank Account

I said this investment was safer than a bank account or a CD. That's a big claim.

But first consider, your principal is safe. The MDC has a $2.4 billion market cap.

And your money is invested in debt-free property. The company doesn't hold Miami condos or Manhattan lofts... we're buying properties that provide basic human needs. Through wars, inflation, recessions, and weak property markets, your principal stays intact.

Inflation is the reason this investment is much safer than bank accounts, CDs, and Treasury bonds. With these fixed-income investments, your return does not adjust, so over time, inflation undermines your annual receipts.

On the other hand, dividend payouts from the MDC rise about 4.5% a year.

Besides, a bank account may pay interest once a year. A bond pays out twice a year. But the MDC mails you a check every month... a check that got bigger four times in 2007.

Over the last 14 years, shareholders have made almost 30% a year in this stock. I think it's fair to expect total returns around 15% a year going forward.

For one thing, inflation makes property prices rise. That's good for 2% a year.

Second, consumers of basic products, such as cheeseburgers and cigarettes, are not price-sensitive... They don't care if prices rise by a nickel here and a dime there. In other words, the MDC's tenants have pricing power. So, the MDC can bump its rents 1%-2% every year.

Finally, the company's gradual expansion – buying properties that yield 9% with money that costs 6% – should be good for 11% a year.

Property Inflation 2% Rent Increases 2% Reinvesting Earnings 2%
Property Acquisitions 9% Annual Returns 15%

The MDC produces dividends. So we have only one sensible way to value this company: its dividend yield. The dividend yield is a barometer that tells you if a company is expensive or cheap. When the dividend yield is low, you're paying more money per dollar of dividend. When the yield is high, you get more dividend for your money.

The MDC is a transparent company and it never changes its strategy, so frankly, its valuation remains pretty constant. You could have bought the MDC with a 9% yield in 2000, but since 2003, its yield has traded in a narrow band between 4.5% and 6%. Right now, it's about 6.7%. That's cheap.

Action to take: Buy Realty Income Trust (NYSE: O) as long as you can earn a 4.5% yield or higher.

Good investing,

Tom Dyson

P.S. For the past six months, I've been researching a unique way to collect more income in retirement. You probably won't hear about 801(k) plans anywhere else, but they can generate twice as much as typical IRAs, and you can get started with as little as $25. Click here to read my report.


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Making Information Technology Available to All

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Making Information Technology Available to All

Lawrence Gasman
PresidentNanoMarkets, LC

Nanotech and the Next Wave: Pervasive Computing


http://www.nanomarkets.net/

Since the 19th Century, electronic information technology has spread in waves. The first wave was the telegraph, then the telephone and eventually PCs, the Internet, fiber optic networks and mobile phones. Each wave has made powerful new information technology available to new groups and regions. Each has met a genuine need, but has been made possible only by novel enabling technologies. The idea for cell phones dates back to the 1940s, by which time the potential market for ubiquitous "radio telephony" was well understood. It took the advent of computerized switching to make mobile telephony possible. Alexander Graham Bell dabbled with optical communications, intuitively understanding its power. It took the discovery of the laser, optical fiber and optical amplification to make optical communications a practical reality.

The next wave of information technology development -- "pervasive computing" -- will be enabled by nano-technologies. Pervasive computing implies an environment in which the dominant communications device is a descendant of today's smartphone, capable of serving as phone, broadband Internet device, video entertainment product, and accessing diverse sensor networks and databases. Like the current generation of broadband-connected desktops, the pervasive computing device will always be turned on; always hooked in to cyberspace. It will bring the power of the broadband communications to the shopper, traveler, road warrior businessman and others on the go.

Pervasive computing will only become real when we find much better ways of powering mobile devices. The Lithium batteries that are used in cell phones, PDAs and notebook computers increase in power density at a rate of 5 to 10 percent annually, but this is considerably outstripped by the power demands of mobile devices as they are forced to perform more functions. New nanomaterials may be able to boost the power density of Lithium batteries. But if mobile devices, originally designed for brief chats, are to become always-on, general purpose information devices, new types of power sources are going to have to be devised and this is where nanotechnology comes in. Several firms including General Electric, STMicroelectronics and Siemens, as we well as start-ups, are examining the potential for printable photovoltaic cell arrays that could be laminated on mobile communications devices and constantly recharged using artificial or natural light. Both Siemens and STMicroelectronics' solutions use buckyballs, while start-ups Konarka and Nanosys are using semiconducting nanoparticles.

Printable photovoltaics are close to commercialization, as is an alternative approach to mobile power involving miniature fuel cells. These could boost the time-between-recharge of mobile devices from a few hours to tens of hours. Some of this work has a distinctly nano aspect to it. Finish researchers are, for example, developing a disposable fuel cell that can be manufactured using a low cost printing process and which is based on and organic molecule chemistry. It would be low-cost enough to power an RFID tag cost effectively for a very long period of time. Nanomaterials may also be used for catalysts in fuel cells.

Nanoengineering may help to reduce the power requirements of mobile devices. But not all nano-enabling of pervasive computing is concerned with power. Technology based on conductive organic polymers is already being used in prototypes of displays that can be rolled up and unfurled when needed. In some cases nanotubes may provide the means for bringing the electrical current to each pixel in the display. Users of PDA-like mobile devices can finally have screens that are more than a just few inches square, increasing the effectiveness of mobile computing and video applications. These flexible screens will gradually take on the look and feel of paper spawning a whole generation of new information products; Sony has already been selling a book reader with such an electronic paper screen in Japan. This reader can store approximately 500 books of about 250 pages each and retails for $370.

Nanotechnology can also improve the memory of mobile devices. Today a choice of memory chips must be made between DRAM and SRAM chips which are fast, but volatile (i.e., information disappears when the current is turned off) and Flash chips that are non-volatile, but slow. "Nanomemory" alternatives to Flash are being developed. Nantero will soon begin sampling a memory chip based on carbon nanotubes and several important electronics firms; Honeywell and Freescale among them – are already shipping magnetic memories (MRAM) based on spintronics. These new nanomemories will vastly increase the storage capabilities of mobile devices enabling them to handle storage hungry database and video applications.
Beyond Mobility: Nanotech and the Next Bandwidth Revolution

As pervasive computing takes off, the extra traffic is going to clog up the networks, requiring a new wave of technology deployment to create new bandwidth. This may not happen for a decade. The last wave of bandwidth creation technology -- fiber optics --way overshot the need for bandwidth, but eventually the overcapacity is going to get used up. It is impossible to be sure what the cure will be. But ways of lowering the cost of fiber optics will certainly be welcome and, since the laser is the most expensive part of any fiber optic link, this mean lowering the cost of lasers. Quantum dot lasers have already been built and offer some potential in this regard. Another way of lowering the cost of photonics may be through building lasers using standard silicon CMOS processes. Such lasers have already been built in prototype, but are too big to count as a nano-products. However, as the semiconductor industry continues to follow Moore’s Law, we can expect to see the appearance of silicon nano-lasers. The inevitable march of electronics into the "nanocosm," will also make it possible to economically fit all the signal processing and sophisticated traffic management that high speed fiber optics requires onto a single chip. We can already see the hints of this will happen in the latest network processors from Intel. These are being manufactured at the 90 nm node and incorporate such sophisticated features as firewalls and traffic management, at very low price.

When the semiconductor industry reaches the 20 nm node and is truly being built around nanotechnology, even more will be possible. However, don't expect these developments to come too quickly. In assessing what nanotechnology can do to make powerful information technologies widely available, it is vital to remember or tendency to overestimate the impact of new technology in the short term and significantly underestimate it in the long term.

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This Is How Millionaires Really Trade

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This Is How Millionaires Really Trade
By Jeff Clark, editor, S&A Short ReportJoe is the financial version of a suicide bomber.

He's a veteran trader with great instincts and a sharp, analytical mind. And he'd be worth millions today if he'd just stop blowing himself up.

I hadn't seen Joe for a few months until I ran into him yesterday. He didn't look good. His face was pale and drawn, and sported the remnants of a three-day beard. His eyes were bloodshot. And his breath reeked of alcohol.

It was 10:00 a.m.

"I just got rolled by the market," he said. "Everything was going so well. I was having a great year scalping profits on small trades. I mean, I was really making some money. Then I bet big on this one trade and – BOOM – it blows up on me."

"I always make money," Joe continued, "when I bet small – ALWAYS. But whenever I bet big, I get killed. What am I supposed to do?"

It was a rhetorical question, and Joe didn't seem to be quite in the right frame of mind for a constructive answer, so I just nodded sympathetically. But the answer seemed obvious... and it's a lesson you can use immediately to become a better speculator: Bet small.

Big trades are emotionally difficult to handle. When a trader has the rent money on the line, he's more likely to second-guess his strategy. He'll watch over every tick on the stock and wonder if he should get out, add more, cut back, or whatever. That's when emotion takes over. Trading on emotion is never a good thing.

The thing of it is... every trader has blown up. Pain is part of the learning process. It's like how a toddler learns not to touch a hot stove. A big loss teaches a trader to minimize risk.

Some traders learn their lesson after one blow-up trade. Others, like Joe, turn explosions into a habit.

Personally, I've blown up three times. The last time was about 15 years ago. I took such a spectacular loss, and suffered so much pain, I swore it would never happen again.



Since then, I've adhered to three simple rules that minimize my risk, yet still allow the potential for spectacular gains...

1. Take 90% of your investable assets and lock them up in safe, low-risk investments with the objective of earning 8%-10% per year.

Of course, 8%-10% returns in today's market environment might seem difficult to do. But really, it isn't. Several strategies work well in a volatile market. In fact, against low-risk value stocks is hugely profitable right now.

2. Take the remaining 10% of your account and speculate with call and put options.

Understand, I'm not talking about gambling here. I'm talking about speculating.Proper speculating involves only taking on trades where the potential reward far outweighs the potential risk... and where the odds of success favor the trade.

The combination of 90% conservative investment and 10% speculation makes it hard to actually lose money. Think about it... If you can earn a 10% return on 90% of your money, then you can just about lose everything on the speculative side and still break even at the end of the year.
The real benefit happens, though, when you earn 10% on the conservative account and then knock the cover off the ball with your speculative trades.

3. Never, ever overleverage a trade. Keep your "bet sizes" small.

Remember, the real purpose of options is to reduce risk. Options allow you to put up less money and still control the same number of shares. So, if you normally buy 1,000 shares of stock, then you can buy 10 option contracts and maintain the same exposure with just a fraction of the funds.

This is where most people make mistakes. They look at options as a tool for leverage. Instead of buying 1,000 shares of stock, they buy 100 option contracts, thereby gaining exposure to 10,000 shares – 10 times their normal position size.

The hope is they'll get more bang for their buck. Inevitably, leverage does create a bang. But it's usually an unwelcome explosion, like Joe's. For a rule of thumb here, remember that most of the greatest traders of all time won't put more than 1% of their investable funds into any one trade.

I've been trading stock and options for a living for more than two decades.

So I know if you

1) keep the bulk of your money in safe, long-term investments,
2) use the rest to make intelligent speculations, and
3) keep your trades small, you'll always avoid the catastrophic loss that wipes out most investors.
And I'm sure these rules will keep you off the booze at least until happy hour.

Best regards and good trading,
Jeff Clark
P.S. As you can tell, succeeding in the market is mostly playing defense so you're around for the inevitable huge winning trade. My S&A Short Report subscribers have been able to do just that this year, booking four triple-digit winners and nearly a dozen double-digit profits in an average holding period of less than eight days. If you're interested in joining our next big trade,
click here. Email a Friend Del.icio.us Digg RSS

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IMF cuts global growth forecast to 3.7 per cent

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Washington, April 4
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its outlook for 2008 world economic growth for the second time this year, cutting it to 3.7 per cent from a January forecast of 4.1 per cent. The revision puts world growth at its lowest since 2002, when growth was 3.1 per cent.

''I can confirm the IMF's current aggregate world growth forecast for 2008 is 3.7 per cent,'' an IMF spokesman said, confirming reports about the IMF's World Economic Outlook due on April 9.

The further revision acknowledges the US-led housing downturn and subsequent credit contraction have exacted a heavy toll on the world economy. Earlier on Thursday, IMF chief economist Simon Johnson said the US economy has come to ''a virtual standstill'' and will remain weak in coming quarters due to deepening problems in housing and credit markets.

''Notwithstanding the strong response from US policy-makers, tighter financial conditions, higher energy prices, softer labor markets, and the weak housing market all conspire to weigh heavily on the (US) economy in the near term,'' Johnson told reporters. — Reuters

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HOMEOWNER FACES DIFFICULTIES, PUTTING A ROOF OVER HEAD !

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By Nancy Keates

Editor's Note:
This is the 25th installment of "Teardown Diary," a feature by Wall Street Journal correspondent Nancy Keates. The column details her decision to demolish the Portland, Ore., home where she lives with her family and build anew. In the months ahead, she will chronicle what led to the decision, the financial costs, hiring an architect, knocking down her house, choosing the features of her new home and the final product.

The Good News: There is a mind-boggling array of new roofing options available.

The Bad News: Good luck getting enough information to pick one.

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In recent years, roofing manufacturers have used new technologies, engineering techniques and designs to come up with solutions to old problems. Love the look of slate but don't want the weight? Want wood shake but don't like the high price? Consumers can now choose between faux slates and shake shingles made from plastic, rubber or metal -- or even real stone and wood that are manufactured to weigh and cost less.

But it isn't so easy deciding which roof to put over your head. Because of the difficulty finding pricing and other details, my husband and I have found this task to be more difficult than other choices we've faced during our teardown project.

We decided early on that a metal roof -- specifically one we'd seen on a house we almost bought -- had the look and function we wanted. It was black and looked like slate; the owners told us leaves slid easily off the roof. Since we live in the woods, we also liked the idea that metal is fireproof.

We found the name of the manufacturer -- Interlock Roofing Ltd., a company based in Vancouver, British Columbia -- and gave it to the architect. When it came time for pricing out our project, the contractor came back with a bid that included a fiberglass asphalt roof with the alternate option of going with the Interlock metal roof we'd specified. The metal would cost us $49,800, he said, while asphalt would be $11,860 -- a difference of $37,940.

The cost included materials and labor, he said. The metal tile roof would have to be installed by the company itself, while he could use one of his long-standing subs to put up the asphalt roof. He looked into other metal roofs and found that they also required special installers and were expensive. Besides, we really didn't want a metal roof. It would be hard to repair because it was slippery when wet, we would hear every drop of rain that fell, and pine needles would get caught in the tiles, he said.

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Our architect suggested going with cheaper asphalt instead, since given the roof's height and the low uphill approach to the house, the visual impact of the roof wasn't critical, he said.

Despite the architect's reassurance, my husband and I remain unconvinced -- the way the roof looks is still important to us. So we asked to see other possibilities.

First up: A product made by TAMKO Building Products, Inc., called Lamarite Slate Composite Shingles, made of composite materials that the company says is fire-resistant, enduring, requires little maintenance and is easy to apply. Our contractor estimated it would cost $42,000 -- too much for something we thought looked too fake.

A few days latter, reading a building magazine, I came across an ad for a recycled rubber and plastic roofing material called EcoStar Majestic Slate that promised "class, elegance and durability" at "half the weight of slate." Since the material is more eco-friendly than asphalt (it is made from recycled materials and can be recycled again) it has the added benefit of making homeowners feel environmentally responsible.

My architect said he'd used the Majestic before and it was a "good product." So I called the company and they emailed me two addresses of local houses roofed with the material. But when my husband saw the roofs, he said they looked "too chunky." The estimated cost for us to put on the Majestic was also $42,000.

Surfing the Internet, my husband came across a company called Davinci Roofscapes. "A synthetic shingle shouldn't look like a 'fake.' It shouldn't just look 'similar' to rough-hewn cedar shake or quarried slate. It should be an authentic replica to all those who view the home," says the Web site.

In my own Internet search, I found a product called TruSlate, "The first slate upgrade in 500,000,000 years" the company says. In old fashioned slate, half of each piece of slate is never seen, tucked under the piece above it. This manufacturer replaces the part you don't see with a material called high-density polyethylene or HDPE -- commonly used for landfill liners and pond liners. By removing half the slate, the product is lighter and costs less. According to the company, TruSlate comes with a 75-year limited transferable warranty and any roofer can install it. The cost for our home: $42,930.

Both the DaVinci and the TruSlate looked beautiful. But since we are scheduled to tear down our house in less than three weeks, we need to decide soon.

Join a reader discussion on the Teardown Diary discussion board.

-- Nancy Keates is a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and lives in Portland, Ore.

Email your comments to teardowndiary@dowjones.com.

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PETTY THEFT ?

Your Rights for Petty Theft Prosecution


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People facing charges for petty theft (aka petty larceny) have special rights under U.S. law.

Petty theft is generally a misdemeanor charge involving the theft of property valued under a certain set price range.

If you are suspected of petty theft, your criminal rights begin the moment you are detained by police and extend right up until a verdict is delivered in your case.

It's very important that you know your rights and use your them to your benefit in the event you are charged and prosecuted for petty theft.


Things You’ll Need:

Computer with Internet access

Criminal lawyer

Step 1:

Know your Miranda rights. They guarantee your right to remain silent, to refuse to answer questions and to consult an attorney before talking with police.
They will be explained to you in the event you are charged for petty theft.
Use them to your advantage.

Step 2:

Hire the services of a qualified, experienced criminal defense attorney.
This should be the first thing you do if you are charged with petty theft.
A lawyer can give you explicit instructions and information on your rights as you face prosecution.

Step 3:

Be aware that the U.S. Constitution guarantees your right to a speedy and fair trial.
The judge should be impartial, and the jury should be equitable, selected at random and know nothing of your case.
Learn more by visiting the American Civil Liberties Union Web site.

Step 4:

Visit your local legal aid clinic to discuss your continuing rights as you face prosecution for petty theft.
Though legal aid services are not considered an acceptable substitution for proper legal representation, they can help you answer questions and direct you to community resources where you can find more information on your rights.

Step 5:

Understand that you have the right to appeal your conviction if your petty theft prosecution resulted in a guilty verdict. This is particularly important if you feel there has been a miscarriage of justice.

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WHY EXPUNGEMENT ?

30 Remarkable Reasons

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Many states allow employers to terminate employment of employees found to have had a prior conviction.

Most states allow employers to deny jobs to people who were arrested but never convicted.

Most states allow employers to deny jobs to anyone with a criminal record, regardless of how long ago or the individual's work history and personal circumstances.

Most states ban some or all people with convictions from being eligible for federally funded public assistance and food stamps.

Most states make criminal history information accessible to the general public through the internet, making it extremely easy for employers and others to discriminate against people on the basis of old or minor convictions to deny employment or housing.

Many public housing authorities deny eligibility for federally assisted housing based on an arrest that never led to a conviction.

All but two states restrict the right to vote in some way for people with a criminal conviction.
Gun ownership is widely restricted with any conviction.

Private landlords can lawfully deny persons with convictions housing.

37 States have laws permitting all employers and occupational licensing agencies to ask about and consider arrests that never led to a conviction in making employment decisions.

Employers in most states can deny jobs to - or fire - anyone with a criminal record, regardless of individual history, circumstance or business necessity.

29 states have no standards governing the relevance of conviction records of applicants for occupational licenses.

36 states have no standards governing public employer's consideration of applicant's criminal record.

45 states have no standards governing private employers.

12 states have lifetime bans on voting for persons convicted of a crime.

Virtually anyone with an internet connection can find information about someone's conviction history online without his or her consent or any guidance on how to interpret or use the information.

28 states allow internet access to criminal records or post records on the internet.

27 housing authorities surveyed make decisions about eligibility for public housing based on arrests that never led to a conviction.

35 states consider the relevance of an applicant's criminal record in making a determination about an applicant's suitability to be an adoptive or foster parent.

15 states bar people with criminal records becoming adoptive or foster parents.

Higher Education Act of 1998 makes students convicted of drug related offenses ineligible for any grant, loan or work assistance.

Most professional certifications require a criminal history check prior to issuance.

Many landlords now demand a criminal history background check prior to leasing or renting.

Almost all youth volunteer positions (i.e.: coaching & teaching) require a clean criminal history.

Insurance and loan rates could be affected by your criminal history in certain cases.

Most people don't realize that if you were arrested and never formally charged or even if your case was dismissed or you were found not guilty, the record of your arrest and court case still exists.
This is your non-judicial and judicial criminal record.
This is a PUBLIC RECORD.
Contrary to popular belief, a criminal record is not automatically sealed or removed over time.
It remains public and permanent until ordered sealed or expunged by a judge.

Expungement keeps the record of your arrest and/or court case out of the public record.

Expungement allows you to LEGALLY deny or fail to acknowledge that you were arrested for the incident which you sealed or expunged.

Protects your privacy and may allow you to take advantage of job, school, and other opportunities once closed because of your arrest being a part of the public record.

Once you have your record expunged it can never be used against you again!

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