San Francisco (#7) and San Jose (#8) were downgraded from the top of last year's NMI as their growth cycles mature, and New York City also declined to the last spot in the top 10.

And that is an okay strategy but you may want to ramp up screening for what areas you can (btw, that may or may not have been your strategy in the purchase and it could be one to examine if it was not your goal and as tenants cycle out).... 

The tenants (foreclosed upon owners) had been dodging me for two weeks, but as soon as I posted that notice they miraculously called me that night.If they contact you, you should definitely explore cash for keys as an option to get them out instead of going the full eviction route.

Seems the key is to find deals at a high enough discount to eat the HML acquisition costs for six months and then finance out so you are cycling through the initial purchase and rehab with little to no out of pocket.  

It is the cycle of life, now if you will excuse me I have a craft beer waiting.

Many markets go through these cycles.

Most are buying at the end of the cycle.

Big projects take 2+ years and a lot can happen in a market cycle at that time.

The market has rebounded so at this point in the RE cycle the numbers aren't that attractive overall.That said, the 1% and 2% rules are basically rough estimates of cap rate. a 2% property is going to mean a +/- 10 cap and a 1% probably about a 7. 10 caps are going to be tough to come by, even during bad times.

Welcome to East Oakland.Do what it takes to keep it from catching fire or flooding or ordinance violations, but otherwise just update the units as tenants cycle out.FYI this isn't unusual for Sec 8 in Oakland, for rents to be sky high that is.