I looked into this at more than one occasion, because Milwaukee has such an old housing stock, everything is 60-120 years old.Most of the new apartments we see are 4 and 5 star developments with very high rents, this allows to offset the high cost of construction a little better.

The high end is the 20 or so co ops on 5th Avenue or Park Ave (one is on East End Avenue) that require liquid assets of $100 million + to gain board approval.  

The risk of property damage or a lawsuit from a dog bite is too high. 

Hard money loans can be an option, but they often come with high-interest rates and short repayment terms.

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

Say you position in great locations where the experience is highly sought and highly valued with limited offerings.

Taxes : Taxes have been a brewing crisis nationwide for sometime, Chicago is another prime example of a major municipality struggling under high debt load.

That part is as advertised.The Not-So-GoodIt’s Expensive—Like, Really Expensive.First-month rent is entirely theirs whenever a new lease is signed.15% repair management fee on top of already high maintenance and repair costs.No late fee benefit for owners—any late fees go to REI Nation employees as an “incentive” for chasing payments.

UPDATE:  Just chatted with the city and learned that variances have a high threshold for approval.  

Those remote flips and high cash flow rentals are so tempting on paper, but they rarely go well in reality.