They create a strong internal organization to manage the properties;  It is rare to find someone who cares about your properties as much as you do.Yet there is some merit in your advice. 

-Eve Always look at each deal on its own merits. 

I'm sure they have fallen somewhat since '08, but not enough to merit investing with a buy and hold strategy beyond your owner occupied unit.

mhsiao45,As in the previous two responses, which each had it's own warranted merit, it is important to clarify what is the status of the property at the time of purchase.

After watching this lot for years and thinking how you could put an upscale set of row housing on it ... which would be set back from the street and would back onto the park ... and convincing the City that such a project merits a zoning variation, we cold-called the owner.

Filing a suit doesn't mean your case has merit, but getting served a summons may get the owner to act.

If most similar apartments rent at around $1000 in the same area, there's little you can do that would merit you're renting for $1400.

Seems to me like almost every field a guru needs to build up satisfied customers that spread their merits.

I'm not trying to sell you on this guy specifically, but his reasoning on this topic has merit.

And, assuming this is a sizable market, could appeal to homebuyers that had the time and possibly cash to "make it their own".That being said, to @Mike Hanneman's point, it would probably remove the "traditional" home buyer market.I guess there are a lot of assumptions to be made for this to be a successful strategy, but in the right place and time it must have it's merits.