I want to take advantage the historic low interest housing rates and purchase a small condo before they rise (which will be around the election).

So when you read "that commercial real estate even small apartment buildings appreciate based on cash flow not on the surrounding neighborhood like single family homes do", BOTH of those measures are HISTORIC, after-the-event statistics anyway! 

The neighborhood is of the historic variety with a mix of B+ and A- type blocks. 

But even then, if you are not prepared with historical financials (proof of ontime payments, etc.) and proof of how you did the initial screening (i.e. background, credit, etc.) you might run into some issues selling a condo to an investor for market (or close to it).

It is a nice historic 3 story + basement property.

Its not in a historical district (thankfully), so it would not be upsetting anyone to build something a bit more modern that the typical houses.

As far as history goes (and correct me if I am wrong Amy) the way I see it is just because they did not clearly forbid it they have historically slapped those whose interpretation of the rules were too liberal especially if small investors got hurt.

RentoMeter.com is about as good as you can find for current rents, but I do not believe they maintain historic data.

I think that study is useful for investors as a historical look at property appreciation and rent increases.

That could have a significant impact on Real Estate in Metro cities in NC.From WRAL:  "For the sports event industry in North Carolina, this week has been unprecedented and historically bad, probably the worst ever in terms of lost business and damage to our brand," said Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance."