Reverse engineer the numbers, and when you arrive at your final number...don't argue with it.  

While I’m not going to argue that it hasn’t appreciated, my experience has been the primary markets get hit harder during recessions or crashes.

Value-add: I can already hear some folks arguing that none of this matters if you can find an incredible deal, well below market, and add a ton of value to reposition the asset and increase rents.

For book recommendations, I like The Million Dollar RE agent by Gary Keller, Million dollar investor by Gary Keller, and The Abcs of Commercial Real Estate investing by Ken McElroy.

They just had a $25,000 assessment and today the maintenance guy stopped by to check on a work order that will cost a couple hundred dollars I'd fix for $20 back home,  I bet there is someone here that will argue the opposite but that's my 2 cents worth.  

Same can be argued for an LLC but little riskier. 

I bought 90% of my properties on Sheriff Deed with no title insurance, I QCD at least 4-5 properties - again no title insurance.This is like arguing about real estate agents: agents say you should use them, not licensed investors argue against wasting money.

For example, people in my community argue that there are so many senior citizens and people without children in the area that they should be allowed a reduction in the school tax. 

However, I would argue that finding a good market, a good property, a good lender, a good attorney, a good property management team, and everything else that goes into buying a property on your own, will take much more time and will be much more challenging. 

You might argue that infinite banking IS smart.