Academia is great for head knowledge.  

After being around this stuff for 40+ years, being involved in more aspects than I can mention, having suffered in the world of academia as well as the school of hard knocks, doesn't take me long to spot the fakes, the wannabe, the shyster, the inexperienced, the honest student, those with integrity and knowledge or the real professionals.

I saw the writing on the wall and took a wonderful full time job in academia where I have been working for the past decade.  

When speaking about complexes anywhere in the country cap rates and all the other metrics will be used as a valuation I'm sure but the real world has boundaries and that's why I got the impression that there was a lot of academia in the conversation.PRICES on MFH can only rise so much before it becomes unattractive to purchase - that is a  real life boundary that will end this discussion. 

One exception may be academia.

The idea of finding your niche or offering something better than your competition is constantly pushed in the business academia so I was wondering if and how it apples to my business.. 

I remember when I got out of school people had to bring me back to the real world from the world of academia!

The thing about spending one's life in the halls of academia, Mike, is that there's no heavy lifting involved.

In addition to the practicality if having the broad knowledge to rely on, a diversity of courses will appeal to hiring managers who will, unless you're going into academia or financial services like I mentioned above, value that.

A chart does not tell you the entire story.If smart people from Feds, academia do not have a clue but kept suggesting this may be the end of cycle.