That translates to a lot of picking up and moving of units.

You need identification: driver's license/ passport and everything translated by an expert that the title officer or lender finds acceptable. 

He only speaks spanish if you can get a translator will be great.

If you find a property with a 5% cap rate, and you assume 4% appreciation on the asset (averaged over time), and you borrow 75% of the purchase price at an 8% rate (I'm using that to show it can still make sense), your compounding annualized rate of return is closer to 11% over the next 5 years.And if it appreciates at an average of 5% over the next 5 years, your annualized return jumps to 14% (the loan causes this anomaly where additional appreciation of just 1% will have that effect, which is why it is aptly called leverage).What's even more outrageous is that your tax-equivalent rate of return is going to be another few percentages higher (depending on your circumstances) because real estate is generally a very tax-friendly investment.Of course, you won't hear this from most financial advisors.Even the cap rate itself is not important, compare to the importance of the "trend of the cap rate" and the "comps of cap rate" because that would indicate "market sentiments".What most folks unable to grasp is, for 9% cap rate to reach 7% cap rate , is faster than cap rate from 6% cap rate to 5% cap rate.The trend of cap rate is more like "the velocity of a trend" which is what we're chasing as investor , that translate to IRR and XIRR at the end of year 5 like Lane described.

I won't buy in a war zone or where there are cars on blocks in the yards, but also not where someone is measuring the grass height with a ruler. lol The point is, I like to own in an area I'm comfortable living in and that has translated, for me at least, to having tenants that have expectations similar to mine.This is just my experience/opinion.

What that translates to in business speak is OFFER LESS. 

The homes were older, in need of renovations, and most residents were Medicaid waiver recipients, which, in the assisted living space, translates to about the lowest rates you can command and additional layers of government red tape and oversight. 

It is definitely affecting developers ability to have projects that pencil out, which translates into less work for others down the line. 

It seems that housing prices in the current market (mortgage and monthly costs) are exceeding what the going monthly rental rates are in many areas which translates into unimpressive cash flow.Am I missing something?

@Katharine Gonzalez most of the traditional LTR analysis templates will work just fine, you just want to spend more time understanding vacancy rates and seasonal patterns in your market to translate LTR assumptions to STR earnings.