Obviously it plays a part, but how much is it just a response to other larger market forces? 

@Dan Portka , I will keep you in mind :) Yes, I am looking for a local real estate club as well; I heard of a group playing the Cash Flow Game in Irvine.

I understand the 1% and 2% rules for buying, but how does repairs to get a place livable come into play with renting? 

This can especially come into play with commission-based sales positions.

but it's all a long play, and hopefully we'll all look like geniuses in 15 years. 

I inherited her when I bought the house and later realized she was playing games with the other landlord other landlord didn't tell me about this until after I closed. she's now playing similar game with me and seems like the courts system is helping her to do this.

I started out strong with mine in high school then quit in college and never started again and now I’m 45 trying to play catch up and hoping real estate can fix my retirement account.

Then they played the let me call my partners and talk about it.

If you're taking into account the ballpark number of $900/mo (or whatever you're planning on paying in rent) x 24 months (just an average based on new build timelines and playing the waiting game with material pricing etc) that would be about $21K ish- or about half or 1/3 of the cost (this will be area specific to you of course) of a small modular home maybe. 

I feel like agents might play with the numbers in order to make it seem like a better deal that it is actually.