You want appreciation.Everyone should want appreciation because that's what ultimately is going to build outsized wealth.If you just want cash flow, heck... throw your cash into an ETF like $JEPI and be happy with your ~9% CoC annually.With real estate, all things being equal, you would want to buy in the highest appreciating market you can find.

We have a specialist do that and they are relativley cheap, but it still adds up.So we have started using a very similar grey carpet tile in a few new houses last year for the basement, both finished and unfinished areas.

People will want to go cheap and avoid any costly repairs or maintenance.So I would factor that in

This structure is not cheap to setup initially, and the annual admin costs are substantial, however gives peace of mind that it offers the ultimate liability protection and most efficient tax structure. 

You have quite a few things to get more smoothly operating but I will throw out a few quick ones.

The problem was that the borrower wasn't that qualified, so the broker really didn't have any good options to offer, so they just kept throwing up roadblocks in front of the seller until they finally through one up they couldn't meet (Like wanting 25% down, when that was never a condition up front.)  

We had to throw away many items stored down there due to mold growth.

So there are thousands upon thousands of vacant lots and these lots have been traded since the 50s  at tax sales or land guys buying cheap and selling for more on terms etc etc..

Many experienced REI wouldn't throw down $5m unless you had a previous relationship with them or track record making money in those sized deals.  

I fund deals like this is my day job for folks  but I don't charge up front LOL>  And we are not cheap but we are very good and actually fund 200 plus deals a year provable..