Hi Will,Yes, about 7 factors influence cap rates and two are the ones you hear most about and that is interest rates and supply / demand for the asset. 

Business Friendly & Fiscally sound state government - Is the state land lord friendly and is it cheap to set up an LLC, and will the state be pouring money into cities to make improvements2.

Ben, the first key IMO is getting the word out to your sphere of influence that you're in RE when you get licensed, and ask them who they know that may be buying or selling in the next 6 months. 

Unlike the zillow reviews these reviews are not controlled by the vendors - Redfin doesn't receive any money from these companies so no influence and you get the real feedback from Redfin's clients.Good luck.

I am very organized and action orientated and fiscally risk averse and conservative.

This preserves rural lands but creates an artificial price influence too.  

Is it fiscally responsible - from a personal finance stand-point - to hold on to these properties? 

Essentially, the lender is rewarding your fiscally conservative nature by charging less interest.

The greater Miami area has much more room to run, but South Beach in particular is built-out.In my opinion, you can't go wrong buying on the Beach, as demand is strong for a variety of factors (seasonal US demand, year-round European demand, and structural economical influences in South America).Let me know if you'd like to talk through it; in the meantime, good luck.Jason

I'm sure that with many of us, how we feel about what went down is influenced by how the seller feels about it.