My quad's come out to 64,000 a door for 850 to 950 a month in rent on my apartments.I don't look at it only from a cash flow perspective however.The area I have the buildings in is an A location prime for redevelopment down the road.Mike it sounds like your local market is competitive with investors and your margins are thin.On one hand it is good to be in a thriving market where demand is strong because usually supply is lower and the amount of rentals and new development for multifamily cannot meet demand.This helps rents grow at a rate that outpaces utility increases and inflation.The downside is it can make some investors overspend on a property because they feel good about the market.I looked for over 2 years before I bought something.I said many times those buyers were nuts.I tracked the properties and many investment properties after purchase just 1 to 2 years later went into foreclosure.They bought at such a price that it wasn't sustainable.I look for a 10 CAP or better on my purchases.The problem is if you someone who has only gotten 1 percent interest off of a CD or Treasuries or they have gotten beat up in the stock market.Those types of buyers jump up and down to get a 7% annual CAP return beating out your offers everyday of the week.By in large many buyers like this can be lazy.They only look in the MLS for listed properties.Value can be found marketing to sellers that are not on the market.They don't want to make public all of their problems ( I know it is common knowledge of default at some point but this is their mindset ).

For the most part, there is not enough margin in short sales to "wholesale" to an investor.

If we can continue to buy with a good Margin of Safety/Exit Strategy with solid Rental Rates, how can we loose?

Remember as an investor it is not the VOLUME and size of the deals you put together because many can be crap it is the QUALITY of the deals you do.I would rather spend a few months doing an awesome acquisition than buying up marginal to okay deals left and right.I have seen this happen on flips and long term holds.In both cases the investor did real well on one property and then started getting carried away.Pretty soon a couple of marginal deals starting to tank their long term portfolio into a neutral or negative position.Even on flips they made good on a few and then the next few went real bad and they were almost at square one again.You have to treat this business like a pawn shop.You will come across many sellers but few will accept your price and terms.So you have to keep going or come back to the seller until they get desperate enough to meet your terms.A classic tactic with a seller is when they will not accept your price and terms.Then a few months pass and they come back to you.Then if you have a couple deals on your plate you come from a position of power.You let them know you are involved with other projects now and to take this property on now you couldn't pay what you offered before and can now only do XX.There will always be another quality deal to be had but millions of marginal to okay deals to get stuck in for years and paralyze the growth and success of your real estate investment portfolio.

If you are holding your property shorter term, then going through the cost seg exercise could be a way to make a marginal property work.

Tight margins, now that I think about it.

I have only done one deal and that was through a wholesaler, so I can't tell you from experience, but from reading a lot here and elsewhere, it appears the largest margins are usually (not always) made outside the MLS.

I would say that you need a healthy margin for any potential liquidity needs for your investors if you are banking on this.

I don't know about other parts of the country, but in San Diego county, it's getting really tough to find deals with a decent profit margin.

They are marginal deals at best which is why you have no action.It is very hard to find a true wholesale deal at the right price.It is just like the regular purchase arena out there in that there is mostly a bunch of trash and a few good deals everyone is chasing.