Lower for a company that focuses only on that and has economies of scale.3.

In addition lower rents will decrease the value of a property, not necessarily its appraised value, because no buyer will desire to pay retail for properties with reduced cash flow.

:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

That's what keeps investors like yourself holding on because the cash flow is non existent between management fees and cap ex which may not present itself in year 1, but when it does, its crushing in these lower price point properties.

Expenses are lower.

Either way its good to buy end of year as most builders and sellers are offering seller credits or builder credits to use towards closing costs or to buy a rate down to help get a lower payment.Even if you wanted to buy a strater home like a 2-4 unit as a primary again you only need to put 5% down. 

Quote from @Deborah Wodell: First, research markets with job growth, lower competition, and strong demand for housing.

I know MLS listings aren't guaranteed accurate, but getting the acreage, city and zip code wrong is hard to swallow as an honest mistake.We have a financing contingency, so if it doesn't appraise for the contract amount due to the lower acreage and different city/zip, we can renegotiate purchase price.

They also tend to have lower tenant turnover and simpler management.

The tenants have paid and if someone is thinking about moving out then an extra surcharge that hits if they aren't out in time for us to turn the place for a lucrative AirBNB short term rental can help massage the move out timing.That said with MTR we do not have the cleaning costs that eat up a lot of STR gross, and its lower hassle in some ways.