Real estate has a low barrier to entry.Access to developers and sponsors for passive investments has historically been limited to accredited investors.Many BP members want to control their financial future and purchase real estate directly to specifically move away from their future being determined by someone else's decision making and priorities.A portfolio with a blend of both full ownership and passive ownership of someone else's deals can be the sweet spot for some investors.

For my 2 cents, I own SFRs and a 4-plex, and I see multi-family as a great way to go, though it seems there are factors coming online that might make it challenging in the next few years: peaking rental rates (historically high as I understand versus income), lower cap rates, significantly increased construction for apartments in most cities where I am looking (which will eventually trickle down in impacting rents from A to B to C class), and the nature of commercial real estate loans (relatively short term, eventually adjustable, and it seems they can only go up in rate). 

Historically, you had to capitalize (depreciate) expenses over $500, which in a rehab is most items. 

Just went and looked at a potential deal that is the first of its kind as far as my investing career goes.Single family home on a great street in a B neighborhood, historic city.

I used one at Bankrate.com and with an estimated 6.8% rate based only on historic rates for that period found here: HSH Historical Mortgage RatesFor the second loan of $80,250 amortized over 30 years, this shows an approximate loan balance of $71k today.  

The one I am looking at is a really old structure in an area that is a national historic district and the neighborhood is experiencing a revitalization...

These are not to be confused with short term market influencers that, while they do have effect, they don’t necessarily sway the course of the cycle in the long term, some examples of market influencers are: interest rates, foreign investment and legislative amendments.Following this are two case studies of historic examples of cycle transitions in Canada, Toronto ’89 Boom-Slump and Calgary ’97 Slump-Recovery-Boom in which they demonstrate the key drivers collectively moving in relation to average MLS price at the time.I’ve been working to compile the data in my home market (Toronto), it’s a little tricky to find exactly the info I need and one should be proficient with excel to get the graphs that are shown in the books but It’s a compelling methodology.Attached is the key drivers scorecard which has the list of the 16 drivers and their expected movements year over year in each phase.Anyways, hope that is interesting for some of you, would love to hear your thoughts!

It also has some character - it is located in a national historic district in an area that had seen decline in the past but has been on the rise for years now with some properties converted to bed and breakfasts and other converted to commercial use such as law offices and doctor's offices.

Certain features of the property can make your CapEx cost skyrocket (e.g. try estimating the CapEx numbers on a historical property that require you to use certain expensive materials).

As an example, let's say that a property of a certain type has historically traded at a 8% cap in that market.