honestly the units that my wife and I own outperform the market and we do not have those problems.

On the other hand, if you have a killer business idea that is capital intensive and you believe could outperform you REI returns then pursue that route.  

I have seen strong cash flows from newly built townhomes or existing single-family homes.This strategy may grow the portfolio value more slowly but single-family REITS have far outperformed multi-family REITS recently and large institutions are putting big money into the SFH game.

If "better" means a higher cash on cash return, then an STR will outperform a LTR in certain markets.

The 35% ROI well outperformed the nominal 5% interest on the HELOC and the payment was very manageable during that 9 months.

You could pick the perfect property at a great price that could outperform better over all areas. 

I have worked with my CPA to do as much as I can to mitigate capital gains taxes from the sale of one of our investment properties, because, after ton of 'spreadsheeting' various scenarios, even with a minor tax hit (ie not being able to/not wanting to use 1031 exchange from my house sale to roll into a TIC/DST/other 'like' asset) our capital will still outperform returns I would have had if just leaving it in this rental.

In fact, I actually see Class B/C assets out-performing a lot of Class A properties in a lot of secondary markets.

I have found the cash flow from laundromats to far outperform that of most real estate investments pound for pound, especially in your area. 25-35% unleveraged is pretty common.

A good management company that charges a reasonable fee will (in my humble opinion) usually outperform self management situations by a wide margin.