I want a specialist that's an expert, and not a jack of all trades and master of none.

For me, personally, it's areas that are landlord basic to friendly, strong industry growth or potential growth, and personally I trade/buy/invest in houses that I see inventory pick up but the fundamentals stick meaning it's a great area.

Given the current economic conditions and any upcoming trends you foresee, what are your forecast?

@Karolina Powell so you want to trade cashflow for appreciation?

Our financial planner has forecasted that based on what we have/are putting away in our IRA’s, I will be able to retire by age 60, and my husband by age 65.

Have you thought about trading the fiveplex for a Class B duplex in a Class B neighborhood and move into one of the units and rent out the other??

Thus, I ensure to vet the deal to forecast the best (or worst) possible outcome for the borrower and a private money lender.

Yardi's Advanced Budgeting and Forecasting module is wonderful and tends to be more accurate because it builds its forecast on all of your historical data. 

Why can't you start with some smaller residential or small multifamily commercial properties to get your feet wet, show proof of concept and possibly try to take on larger deals.Or possibly find a local syndication group and become an employee under them learning the trade and finding a mentor in the space.

The average monthly cash flow forecast for this one property is over $6k/month.