There were plenty of syndicators who produced a big return like that (occasionally) in the past.

Chattanooga is what I'm thinking since I have friends travel there occasionally for work who can help me fact check things from time to time if need be, and I can afford things like multi-units.

If he has a property that doesn't cashflow for a few years, it's nothing to him.Don't bet the farm if all you have is a farm.  ...but, if you have a thousand farms, maybe it's ok to roll some dice on a couple of farms occasionally...As with all things, it's all relative and contextual--which is why a hard and fast rule that makes sense for one investor might make zero sense for another investor.

Yes, occasionally things get missed on inspections but maintenance or other vendors  should be on the look out, too and reporting these things.

Some residential realtors occasionally sell real estate that will become rental properties.

You don't hear many people talking about this, but you'll get much bigger pay jumps (10-20%) switching companies every few years compared to staying at the same company to get the standard 2-4% a year with an occasional 8-10% raise. 

It's 7k/month rent and the renters are both 1. totally incapable of living a life with typical home issues (occasional bug in the house, weird smell here or there) and 2.

We have occasional tornados, but probably so rare most people you meet have never seen one in person or had any damage from one.One idea to check rates....pick prices of two similarly priced and aged homes in each city. 

@Stanley ClevelandMany people are told they need to have all of these extravagant legal setups for entity structures, which for commercial properties it makes sense but for single family rentals it’s more often than not an overkill.If you have an umbrella insurance policy, a good property manager in place and obey the laws anyone can sue anybody but what are they suing for?

We moved to the Savannah area (from Wilmington, NC) and wanted to buy a house/condo downtown to rent out and be able to use occasionally .