I always thought that in need to invest where I lived and for may years invested in bad areas that I thought I needed to.  

That doesn't make them bad, per se, it is just a very difficult market right now. 

Yes - and even when its out there its typically impossible to qualify (need high rate and high DSCR and typically would have to qualify as a LTR - so almost a unicorn or in a really bad market)

note none of my local STRs have this good a revenue ratio; if they did I would have good cash flow on them which my cash flow on the STRs the last few years has been modest.I am still shocked my underwriting shows the COC to be this bad, but I have decent confidence in the underwriting.  

You guys make great money so buying a home isn't bad.

I think there is a weird balance here, among professionals, where people may not want to bad mouth fellow professionals, particularly from the same areas, which can create a skewed picture. 

Maybe there is something to learn, but most of the time it just makes you feel bad. 

One more reason why long-distance management is a bad idea.

Because significantly less than 100% of your investment actually goes into purchasing or improving the property, and the property is purchased at retail value (or worse), your returns will badly lag any benchmark of direct property investment.  2.

Cost of borrowing goes way down when no one wants to borrow like in a bad economy.