I work with a lot of MTR investors and what I am seeing frequently with multifamily acquisitions, particularly with new investors, is that they often test the property just like you're mentioning, as a way to dip their toes in the water and see what works in their area and for their personal style.

Upgraded appliances NO builder drop ins..

I recently toured a property in Phoenix where solar power and water-saving features cut operational costs by nearly 20%.6.

Their fill hose sprung a leak or something and hundreds of gallons of water poured into the apartment below them.

If you haven't found  renter in 3-4 weeks, drop the price (but not your standards).

As those prices fluctuate, there is a builders somewhere putting his feet up waiting to see a market turn more active because the last thing he wants to do is start paying crews to build houses, that could drop in value while he's halfway through the build process and losing equity halfway into the project.

Roads, water/sewer, city services, heck even just the planning for such is not a simplistic thing for all. 

And @Kory Reynolds brought up a good point about recapture of the section 179 deduction if your business use drops under 50% in a future year. 

There's tons of options and even free options for landlords. 95+% of ours pay online and we have 3 tenants that drop payments off at our office.

Kyle, south of Austin, ranked No. 2 with a 9% increase to 62,548 people, up from its third-spot ranking last year, while Leander, northwest of Austin, saw a 7.6% boost in population to 80,067 people, according to the data.In the new data set, Austin's population is pegged at 979,882 in 2023 — up 0.5% from the year prior — dropping it from the 10th to the 11th most populous city in the country behind Jacksonville, Florida, which has an estimated population of 985,843.Still, the Austin metro isn't stagnating.