However, I would venture that you would have less competition in acquiring a multi family unit versus single family.  

It's a delicate conversation sometimes, but my subs are always appreciative when I can tell them, "all my bids were within 5%" versus "One bid was twice and much, and one was half as much."  

Can I buy a property for $100K & put in another $100k from my funds to improve it?

Our of state investors such as myself are interested in a long term stable asset from a reputable source versus looking at only cash flow.

Basically you need office space versus medical space.

Also, would a bank appraise the property if they did none of the improvements?  

The “seller” will buy back these two tracks with the proceeds of MUD bonds he sold to reimburse himself for advancing $8 million for utilities improvements.

In fact, most of the "housing distortion" you see in these markets I think can be identified from the regulations that were trying to solve a real problem but just got in the way and either made building new apartments more difficult, or maintenance and improvement of neighborhoods more difficult. 

Depending on how much the property is worth the refinance can be used to improve the property.How much are the properties worth?

More on this topic in my article: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/10850/75569-ca...3) There is a difference between partnering up with others to raise money/manage investors/market a deal versus private equity firm bringing capital to a deal through their investors (which I believe some folks on this post were referring to).