He said that Pensacola has a shortage of inventory(definitely true) and that it would take 3-5 years for inventory to catch up with demand. 

Skilled trade shortage will make that “put $25 into it” go away.

I'm ultra conservative, and I still feel that there is a shortage in most areas of the country of Class B apartments for working class Americans.  

On residential - shortage of inventory, prices climbing, if you have a listing it will sell fast-multiples commonMulti Family - Insane traffic in urban markets, slows as moving further out.  

Income dependability depends on the tenants who occupy your property.The tenant segment we've targeted for 16+ years has proven to be very dependable.2008 crash - Zero decline in rent and zero vacancies.COVID - Almost no impactEviction moratorium - Almost no impactThe average tenant stays over five years.Only six evictions in 16+ years out of a tenant population >1,000.SummaryThe perfect storm of rapid population growth and land shortage almost guarantees that Las Vegas prices and rents will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.Many people remain concerned about interest rates.

I know San Fran banned them because there is such a shortage of property and people were buying property in the city to make into AirBnB's, thereby eliminating housing that people needed to live and work there.  

It has encountered stiff pushback from tenant advocates, for example, who argue it is exacerbating the housing shortage and driving up rents.So far most of the scrutiny has focused on rental apartments and homes that are converted to full-time vacation rentals, with regulators generally tolerating homeowners renting out a primary residence.There is a risk that could change.

We are at less than half of the level a year ago, a dramatic decrease.So, the statics clearly show that there is an extreme shortage of rental properties for our target tenant pool which means now is a great time to buy rental properties.Walter, if you select a property that targets the right tenant pool, the odds of quickly renting the property are better today than they have been in many years.

-The property is a duplex located in the Bay Area, CA, smack dab in the middle of all the major tech companies, and my mom owns it outright-I currently live in one of the rooms in one of the units, and manage the property (I've done this for 2 years now)-Each unit is 1210 ft^2 with 3 bedrooms, two baths, and a garage-Both units are in very good condition, comsmetically and structurally; although, they were built around 1970-The sale price would be approximately 350k, while the FMV of the home is 1.72M (the difference would be recorded as a gift, of course, thereby reducing the lifetime exclusion amount)-The sale would be done through a term-based promissory note with the appropriate AFR at the date of sale (currently 2.8% for loans of more than 9 years)-We have just enough remaining parent-child exclusion amount to prevent the property taxes from going up after the transfer (current property taxes based on an assessed value of 650k)-Since my parents purchased the property in 2004, there has never been a shortage of good tenants (there are hundreds of high-earning professionals in engineering and tech clamoring to find a place to live here)-Each unit brings in $3,000/mo, and many say we should be getting more (since I live in one of the rooms, however, the total cash flow for both units is $6000 - $700 = $5300/mo)-After the purchase, I would continue to live in one of the rooms; therefore, it would be my primary residence, which, as far as I know, would allow me to claim a homeowner's exemption, ...Hopefully, the above details are enough to be able to form some opinions.  

My initial thoughts were the opposite, that if it costs more to buy than it does to build, then there is an inventory shortage.