But the right guys with the right advantage can make a killing on this market because they know that the moat around their market is to deep for most mortals to cross.  

You might be a good bet, but things can happen to a mortal that don't with a bank!

Search the forums for lots of discussion on the topic.But, to be succinct, imagine buying a $1M fourplex that generates $8500/m in gross income.Now, make a spreadsheet to figure out what each of the following could be:"Cash Flow" - The amount of money left in your bank account at the end of the month (ignoring reserves and non-recurring expenses)Free Cash Flow - The amount of money you can count on at the end of the year (allocating $ for reserves, vacancy, etc)Total Return - The amount that your net worth will increase by holding the investment (includes free cash flow + gains from paying down mortgage principal)Total Projected Return - The amount that your net worth will increase, based on market projections (includes projected gains/losses due to housing market price changes, development/value add for the property, or changes in CAP rate).IRR - Wrap it all up for the expected length of time you'll hold the property to see how it'll perform overall and to compare it to properties in other locales.Now, adjust all those for your personal tax situation to figure out whether it's a good investment for you.For San Diego, you should be able to look at different situations to see why it makes sense for some people to invest there.I haven't yet seen broad agreement on exactly what to call each of those terms *for REI* - there's a difference in terms that real estate finance pros use vs. how us mere mortals speak.  

LOL.. 100% agreed here.Exciting a property 2 years later and making a profit...Imagine the exit if property was held to this day 💰Hat's off to Chris and REI NationReal estate is a rollercoaster and owning 1 or 2 properties never delivers a satisfactory outcome.Most investors that are pissed of with me/us are the one's that only purchase 1 or 2 and expect a David Copperfield magical result.The one's that build a larger portfolio end up being happier and end up achieving an overall better ROI.Great seeing Chris get a bit a heat here to prove he is like us mortals lolAlthough probably not justified.Sometimes when you work hard and try your best, you make mistakes.Nobody is perfect as long as those mistakes are honest mistakes.Much success to all 🙏

Us, regular mortals, don’t have those luxuries 😊

@Kenneth Shelley  you can find them on paper... and they will be Hood type properties with very high owner mortality rate

There are a whole cadre of trap shooters who believe that using a semi automatic shotgun is a mortal sin despite the fact that many successful trapshooters would use nothing else.

I want your child".See my little mortal friends... what most of you do.. is spend money and/or effort on marketing paying a fortune to reach "people".

Thanks for breaking that down for us mere mortals

As people get older, they tend to want to pass on their life to others (this is likely part of our survival instinct being expressed as we begin to deal with our own inevitable mortality).