.- Very low appreciation unless there is a large market shift -- major new employer, city takes many housing units offline via eminent domain, a college greatly expands without additional housing, etc.The list goes on.

By splitting out the rental, voila, now you have rental losses which are automatically aggregated with all your other rental activities and are non-passive, even if you don't materially participate on it's own. 

What you're probably seeing in North Florida where you were is the market shifting from sellers to buyers, and inventory just hasn't had time to pile up yet.

Demand shifts. 

Far better to have a list that is continually, automatically, updated for you.

Will an increase in market activity lead to more investing opportunities? 

As a civil engineer with expertise in road design, I am now looking to shift my focus to land development.

It can automatically shut off the water if there's a burst pipe.  

With the population increase, school districts have shifted (and will continue to shift) based on the growth.

We learned that a LOT of people are willing to get rid of their father's or mother's home for a song because they can't come up with the tax money to keep it.I would say we do much the same sort of thing these days but our focus is shifting to finding small multifamily where the landlord just doesn't want to go on with what he has.