Given the current environment, maybe a virtual meet up is an option.

For me, in a very concentrated university environment, extended stay rental for academics is also in very short supply so that is even an easier switch.  

I"m obviously biased, but agree with you that looking at opportunity zone funds makes a lot of sense in this environment if you have gains. 

The universal, and frankly obvious response is, “How do I know what a killer deal is in this environment?”

For rentals in the current business environment caused by Coronavirus, the economic loss will be in the form of unpaid rents from tenants.

We all have our threshold for risk and clearly yours is more than mine in the current environment. 

Like I think my question is, have the distressed sellers been sophisticated enough in the past to start cutting price aggressively and getting creative in this environment?

@Anamaria Ivan in this high priced environment, I think for anything to work, there will have to be some sweat equity put in.If I were you, looking to buy this year, I would be looking for 2-4 families (as mentioned 4 families tend to be easier to make the numbers work), that are livable but outdated. 

https://www.globest.com/2020/03/20/bankers-reluctant-to-loan-money-in-coronavirus-low-interest-rate-environment/Has anyone else seen this sort of thing happening to their deals?

The key is to know your market intimately and be ready to strike when a deal surfaces.No one knows what the results of this current environment will be as it all  depends on how long and how deep things go.