You're telling me I can make that with volatility but less investment?

All the high volatility makes the market hard to predict and hard to sustain healthy growth.I am hoping for more than 2% appreciation but as long as we stay positive and don't dip into the red I will consider it a win for Vegas.

It seems less volatile than single family - thus more viable for buy and hold.

In addition, I would like to learn more about my prospective market (Miami, FL) which is said to be somewhat volatile.

As soon as the house is fixed, he can take out a HELOC and buy more properties at his leisure and produce more income.I'm not sure what the GAP system is but it doesn't sound much better than buying volatile stock. 

Volatility is a concern, I don't want my investment to drop in half at the same time the real estate market takes a dive like in 2008. 

To me it means I will be able to build longer and have less volatility in the market even if I would enjoy the peaks, those valleys are rough. 

So, start with your friends and family, then move outside those circles seeking people who have retirement funds and are looking for better returns with more security and less volatility than the stock market.

If I was to invest in a volatile market such as the stock market I would invest my money in low cost index funds this way I own a piece of the whole market.

There is volatility in the business and having only one house exposes you to that volatility.