Look further out in peripheral markets or find properties that have serious problems that you have the skillset to remedy is what a lot of other investors including the institutional outfits are doing so as the small guys we have to be willing to go further out or take on bigger problems... or be patient.

@Kyle Burkhardt I do agree that KC is still a good market to invest in, but it does get down to the area, the deal, and most particularly the team you work with (either putting it together yourself) or ready made as an all in one turnkey outfit. 

I happened to catch a bit of a radio show (actually I always considered it more of an informercial) yesterday by one of these outfits.

By keeping more money in my pocket during the purchase, I will be able to outfit the storage room as a coin laundry, which will service both this building, and the 8 unit building directly next door.

When smaller commercial outfits like these pop up, and it becomes hip to redo historic commercial buildings, the residential communities surrounding these are the big winners. 

i know the big players , but i would rather have a smaller outfit or a semi-retired maintenance person . i am mostly just tired of the calls on maintenance stuff  more than anything :(

i agree with you on all the point s you raised but I don't have any suggestions on how to solve the problem other than keep looking (and hoping that there are at least A FEW customer oriented outfits in the area).

Frank Ruopoli Look on BP, spend 20 minutes on Google, read articles from (theoretically) neutral outfits like this:http//www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/index.ssf/2012/08/a_flurry_of_alerts_about_trave.htmlPersonally, I think it's odd hearing about these programs on radio ads during radio shows put on my "professional gamblers" that tell you that they "have a system".

Look into MLS deal finder - Texas based outfit. 

You still need to outfit it and the like.It sounds like you have water available and electricity.