You may not make as big of a return, but the downside is a lot less.

The only downside with SC is the LTR pricing will be rough if you have to change course, so buy with that in mind.

One downside of MF can be the age, and insurance can be a big issue.

This gives much better diversification protection across geographies, asset types, strategies, investment subclasses etc. versus putting all the eggs into one basket.The downside is that it's not for everyone, and a person has to be comfortable with turning over control to someone else.

I understand the two main downsides of condos being monthly fees out of your control and little appreciation. 

The downside, is you have no control over what the bank's guidelines will be in the future, or what rates will be in the next few months.

But I read that there's downsides in doing that just don't know exactly what- capital gains tax, etc. also I was told to open up a new LLC and use my current LLC as the manager.

I got my license 4 years ago and I do see the downside as an agent-investor during prospecting.  

Because you can assume no Section 8 tenant has good credit, my leasing decisions had more to do with meeting each tenant myself to get a gut feeling based on their communicativeness, timeliness to showing, what questions they asked, whether they looked me in the eyes or avoided eye contact, etc.The downside of section 8 was the annual, then bi-annual, inspections. 

was there any downsides to working with friends or family?