Some people need 2% above the borrowing cost (8% cost of hELOC you gotta then make 10% + etc) and others will want to double their cost of capital or 200% so it depends.Everyone's going to give you their anecdotal experience or what their preferences are so its good to hear it all and determine your own.

As far as the users' preference of view over space...

Personally I prefer homes around that median price because that's where the most demand will be not only for owner occupants but renters as well.

Starting small with multifamily properties is my ideal preference at the moment, as I focus on learning, growing, and immersing myself in as much information, data, and real-time experience as possible.As I build my investment portfolio, I could definitely see myself being interested in scaling up to larger acquisitions in the future, but for now, my focus is on mastering the fundamentals and starting small.

For this reason, I prefer to plan renovations when a long-term tenant moves out.

While that may be good for the 10% pref investors, you may have been better off holding another year and getting another 7%.Related to this, I generally don't like preferred returns as a passive investor. 

With enough knowledge you can make a educated decision on which approach you take.My experience:I personally don't sign up for any program who take you aside during events and try to sell packages that is just blatant sales strategy.Once you sign up there is every attempt to make you sign for their programs for bookkeeping, registered agent, LLC or corp setup fee which have ridiculous even with platinum membership.Basic standard structure they suggest to take advantage of multiple deductions can be easily achieved by proper education or work with a good firm like https://wcginc.com  who is local to you.A umbrella C-crop to manage all other LLC properties and take advantage of many tax deductions that are not available with a llc, its also used to take losses up to 100K as startup expenses and dissolve the entity after few years.Few LLC entities for investing in Real Estate, etc preferably in Wyoming or Nevada ( you can find many companies online who can do this for $150 compared to anderson $1500-$3000) , they will claim they have a secret Operating agreement which is bogus.They certainly try to take advantage of tax loopholes and claim to be smart people, my view they are just taking advantage of numbers as per their own statements.

I am not sure where exactly this property is, but this is an example of why I prefer B class neighborhoods or better when looking for rental properties. 

So cash flow is my least preferred of the RE return sources.  

They prefer the middle/southern part of the country because the laws are friendly and prices are more affordable.