They were popular because they were cheap, since your walls were also your roof.

Sometimes owners lock in long leases at cheap rents because they are emotionally attached to the tenants.

Which if youve done flips , but not commerical multi before, you wont miss much,  however a 6 fam is a commerical code permit so there are slight variations between the residential code for essentially all trades which if you dont have a detailed plan and you dont double check every code before you do anything but rely on cheap labor to do your due diliegence for you, what could go wrong ? 

No, not just for being cheap… for being stupid. 

I know somebody will read this in 10 years and probably thinks this is now cheap.

My out-of-state clients love it here because they are able to purchase deals at a very cheap price point and still meets the 1% rule.

You can find cash-flowing rentals at a very cheap price point - anywhere between $120k to $180k.

Cheap, Easy, no permit. 

Always get monetary concessions... never rely upon a seller to do anything after closing, unless you want it done half-assed and on the cheap.

For a Class C rental, I typically buy the cheap blinds from Walmart.