They are snoozers that in my opinion would not be the first choice of a sophisticated investor. 

Betting that is going to happen again while new smart participants have entered the market(sophisticated players like black rock) and retail (everyone who watches finance youtube knows about real estate) I think is a foolish bet.

Mine was an MBA, CPA, CFA, and holds multiple other profession accounting designations that are more sophisticated than a CPA.

Sydicators have popped up like weeds the past few years and not all of them are very sophisticated, some are downright malicious.

Note one of the syndications I am an LP uses this strategy and a very friendly local ADU law as their sophisticated value add.  

Over the years I've built up a decent list of syndication sponsors who will take capital from a sophisticated investor like myself, particularly via  506(b) raise.

From my experience a cap rate being used or not more comes down to the sophistication of the investor (seller and buyer).

In my area the margins on flips are shrinking but the volume of would be flippers is increasing, this is simply because the overly optimistic investor isn't requiring an appropriate risk premium, this drives out a lot of the "smart money" and pushes them into more sophisticated, complex, and less inundated areas of RE in which margins are still suitably fat.The last thing ill mention is that a lot of the high debt/leverage people are on this thread defending their positions.  

I believe sharing insights on these topics can help us all grow more sophisticated in our approaches.

I'll leave the diplomacy to sophisticated individuals like yourself.And off course Dom.Best of luck to you also Charles 🇺🇸