And now with rates being high, plus many areas overbuilt with new apartment buildings, I’d be careful with unknown areas, and also what you read in the media about “hot” areas, up and comers, etc.I was in a similar situation to yours a couple years ago.

U will never hit the numbers ever in renovations as there is no way to know the unknown.. just make sure there is plenty of margin above you all in price and cost of capital. 

And as you say it's an UNKNOWN amount, because it's a %. 

This has the obvious weakness of the unknown nature of future cap rates, but that's really the heart of your question here.Estimating future cap rate is part art, part science. 

That strength i carry that lets me stand alone is beneficial but also as I left that crowd i was never able for unknown reasons to reconnect to a better class of people or even network.

Retroactive for any crimes known or unknown for the last however many years......  

Some investors prefer to start saving for these ASAP, while others plan to deal with them when they happen.The unknown is Maintenance costs, which are often dictated by how "hard" a tenant lives in a property.

The unknown is always the worst and now knowing what to anticipate from all sides (fema, insurance, SBA, damage, cleanup, repairs and rebuilding, etc.) makes every future storm a little more tolerable.Part of it just comes down to the price we are willing to pay to live in such an amazing area.

Going into the unknown and buying multiple SFHs/duplexes or an apartment complex OOS and my property taxes will skyrocket (property tax is reasonable thanks to Proposition 13 in CA).

Good contractors will inflate the bid to accommodate for all those unknowns, assuming they will be coming.