But you will never see the appreciation that truly builds wealth, because those low-barrier-to-entry properties will stay flat on the metric that matters: appreciation. 

On my property above I'm prep'ing to build a new unit...you could arguably say that changes the nature of the use...and it likely does.

We're building an addition onto our primary residence and have a choice between adding one 8x12 master bathroom or splitting that same space to have 2 en suites (each 8x6), with one coming off the master bedroom and the other coming off another bedroom.

Our real estate portfolio included multiple Single Family Residential Flips, a commercial building (office/shop space), and a triplex in Canandaigua, NY.

One key piece of advice is to make sure to build strong team around you.

Developers have been on a building rampage for the last 5 years, so we've got brand new apartments sitting vacant and properties less than 50% full in many areas of town. 

Prop tax's there are over the top many times.. and can move drastically from one year to the next.. or if it had a owner occ exemption or was being taxed as a lot and is a new build.  

The seller showed a letter from the previous Building inspector stating that there are no coding violations and that all the 6 units have certificates of occupancy.

if you look at forced appreciation you can do that as a strategy but you are still limited by market supply, market economics, property ages you can't control. the strategy we do Is build to rent development where you build an asset 25% below market through infill site selection, land entitlement which boosts property values, as well as refinance once the property is stabilized. new construction you can't build something unless it appraises 25% below market anyways. so I think the majority of biggerpockets is focused on the strategy you mentioned but part of what I try to do is show other strategies that involve land, new construction, build to rent development, land development, land entitlements, smart asset design of smaller floor plates, infill locations where equity and values are higher, etc. we do this in Columbus Ohio.

And when you combine that with buying off market going direct to seller, you can build a real estate empire while being vertically integrated.All of this aside, whatever market you decide to invest in, please be sure to develop a relationship with a reliable contractor and a project manager.All the best!!!