I use 20 years because any expectation less than 5 is not an investment, but really speculation that the rents or values will increase. 

If this is a really great opportunity in an area you think is going to really turn around and you think a hold will pay off, I think you can chance a risk like that but speculative investing is dangerous in its own right.

@Mike McKinzie  Oh no you cant really be thinking about appreciation.. that's gambling.. that's speculation , that's icing on the cake LOL.. unfortunately  your thought process and mine are very much a minority thought process on BP.BP tends to be cash flow first foremost and always.. to the point that beginning investors actually believe it and take the risk chasing very high paper yields with no clue the risk they are taking. 

I would caution you to speculate in these "up and coming markets". 

If it doesn't then you will need to decide if you want to speculate on appreciation.  

It is all speculation.  

That turns a cash flow analysis into speculating. 

I don’t really care what the price is, I care about cost of leverage, trueness to expenses, lease length, quality of tenant, pro-forma speculation, and most importantly, pre-tax cash flow.

Just some background info, I'm not a speculative buyer and will likely be looking to find a home with minor cosmetic upgrades needed before it's make ready.

I did a comparison to my stepson's LA triplex that he paid 1.2M for (and put like 250k down on in cash), where he nets about 1k a month, hoping it will appreciate huge in about 5 years bc of a stadium nearby (he bought at a speculative price to begin with so overpaid, but that's LA)VSour purchases, where we buy super low, rehab high and rent high (about 130k in each), and they are appreciating at about 20%/year (revitalization in the neighborhood).