@Carol Venolia,The housing shortage has pushed rents into the stratosphere and this is not lost on the working class.

(Think herd mentality)Nothing new, been through a few of them,.....I checked that one prop the OP posted, those are everywhere, non cashflow, lots of renovation needed types of places.I say, "let 'em sit for awhile and stew" better deals for those that wait and keep looking around I'm thinking.Yes, LA has a housing shortage currently, and it's not the first time.We're in no hurry to buy at the top of any cycle, especially considering the sq ft costs being achieved right now in sales.Might be cheaper to build new in another state than pay $279 per sq. ft here with less than grade A tenants,...Unless throwing 120k - 150k down is easy for you for 1 property,....I say go.I'm not so rich I can afford to be cheap, (or silly) with my dough.my .02

If the property has a long term lease at below market it will sell for less than the EXACT same property next door that has market rate leases.Homes are generally rented short term and there is usually no shortage of direct sale comps. 

Is there a shortage of student housing?  

In my opinion the real estate remain still a good investment/business because has the "SLOW" characteristic that means that do not react directly proportionally with the stock market and no matter is going to happen the people needs a roof...Anyway, about the Houston market, I was just reading from the Houston Business Journal that the top 10 jobs are based on medical and/or import/export industries, no one was in the oil & gas area.Another KPI is that Houston have still a shortage of houses respect to the request.However, if you driving around downtown/uptown you can see a lot of new buildings/condo/town etc... that are ready to open...In conclusion, I think there are a lot of opportunities in the Clutch city...

Housing shortages are for real around here and the real estate market has fuel to go another 10 years.

In addition, due to the housing shortage after WWII there were many older properties that were "modified" by adding units so that is an added possibility for an older area.

Cameron, there is a shortage of deals in MA, and the MLS is almost certainly picked clean.  

At the moment, with a relative regional shortage of multi housing and SFR prices that are going through the roof, the monthly rental difference between the two types may not be that great.

There is no shortage of good deal flow out there.