Do you count anybody that texts you back a response no matter what they say (take me off your list, I'm not interested in selling, go pound sand, etc." or just those that respond that are interested in receiving an offer.Right now we count Take me off your list and not interested, and want an offer as all responses and then have a separate category called Leads which are responses that actually want an offer.Our current DM all encompassing Response rate for Direct Mail is around .90% and our current Lead Response (those responses that want an offer) at around 0.49%.

It tends to be more "all encompassing".

I lean toward REI investing in general encompassing any strategy that works (locally or otherwise) and discussing Morgantown/Fairmont/etc would likely flow from there naturally.

Do these services encompass what is important for you?

Flipping single family houses doesn't really affect "affordable housing" which usually encompasses rental apartments.   

Renting it out for STR would encompass the entire property. 

Metropolitan Statistical Areas are by definition large and encompass great swathes of regions and whilst this information is useful background information, remembering that one of the distinguishing features of the Real Estate Asset Class, as compared to other classes, is it's highly segmented character.The most profitable ( and some would say, risky) revenue streams of RE is appreciation and that's what you're trying to determine when you are looking for how to determine which stage of the RE cycle an area is in but within Sarasota, Tampa and Jacksonville for example, are a myriad number of micro-markets that could provide an asset that over the next 5 years would create a huge loss or a huge gain based on the characteristics of the micro-market.

Or does the safe harbor only apply to items that are purchased after the encompassing real property is placed in service?

While it's certainly not all encompassing, it does provide a great place to begin discussions with your tax advisor.

In the case study you posted you mentioned the case study only encompassed the high season and the highest high season ever.