Is it feeding into the 5/5 school versus the one 2 blocks away that feeds into the 2/5 school?  

It sounds like you're on the right track with a clear goal in mind 8-10 properties and leaving the W-2 in 3-5 years is ambitious but definitely doable with the right strategy.When it comes to whether to be aggressive with paying down one property versus spreading it across a few and paying down slower, it really depends on your risk tolerance and long-term goals.

Do you mind elaborating on the consolidation versus liquidation approach?

Sometimes it's ambiguous, but even then, why should I bother with the company that has numerous unresolved lawsuits, versus another company that is virtually the same but has none.

How can I help versus how can I benefit.  

What I also enjoy is when people put out articles with contradicting view points and in six months or a year point to the - "see how correct i was", well yeah you placed bets on both red, black and green so you were going to be correct because you bet on all options.

If your bet is appreciation, bet your underlying fixed costs go up.

What repairs/improvements do you NEED to do, versus THINK? 

Since you’re considering Tahoe, where you might use the place as a short-term rental when you’re not there, it’s also good to outline how you’ll handle personal use versus renting it out.I’ve seen folks succeed with this by treating it like a business, even if you're all friends.

Perhaps not a trend to consider across the city but any neighborhood that would attract college educated young professional families seems to be a good bet if you wanted to focus on this asset type.I plan to build 12 townhomes as a second phase of a condo/townhome project in a good area of Mount Airy near the Chestnut Hill boarder and even though I’m likely to years away from being ready to begin phase 2, my current plans are to keep the 12 homes as rentals for the precise reasons I outlined above.