We observe most wise investors we are acquainted with, who had much higher return on cash than us, exiting some (or all) their properties in California. 

What we’ve observed is that they break down the problem into smaller pieces and sell just 1 property to feel out passive investing.

Your project pays 6%, if you finance it with 8% int rate then the COC behavior that you observed is expected.

I would use the entire list, follow up, and retarget several times.Your observations are correct, but the conclusions are wrong, and this is something I have been preaching about for years.The reason why you are observing that "there is no difference in motivation" is not because it is equal, or "it doesn't matter". 

There are some serious competitors working overages as I've observed from both sides of the game.

@Gabriel P.I would highly recommend reaching out to a local commercial real-estate appraiser, preferably one that your local-lender uses (if you indeed have one), and inquire what they are using for cap-rates.They have seen a lot of local transactions (even off-market ones) AND they their opinions count a lot when it comes to underwriting a loan against your property.Local CRE brokers might be able to get you a ball-park, but much of their information will be slightly biased because they will be basing their observed cap-rates on seller-provided pro-formas, which as usually highly optimistic.Hope that helps!

Quote from @Mike Dawson: I want to buy a Ferrari and drive it through Myrtle Beach without having to observe speed limits.

If they ran a camera first and observed a broken, bellied, or root filled section, then I would be digging, but not before.What were the specific issues with the three year old toilets?

I've been kind of bearish on the UK market for a while but I have observed people continuing to make money even since the referendum.

So the ingrediants for a decent deal seem to be here AS STATED:local knowledge of the positive virtues of the micro neighborhood, observation of a promising trend, rent to purchase price pretty solid, value add is low and cosmetic only.