St Louis County and other areas surrounding the city are also very different markets, so I'd be curious to see the parameters for their data and if St Louis stands out as a bit of an anomaly in that regard.

I'm a big believer in every property standing on its own.

I'm still VERY curious as to how much time had elapsed between this fire or whatever event caused the raze order and word getting to you, if the prop mgt company AND city inspector called on exact same day AND inspector wasn't giving you the old "courtesy call" to say, "hey your place burned down and you'll have to get rid of what's left standing" but instead said "Ya, WE are going to be taking it down for you IN 48 HOURS" that REALLY makes me wonder if prop mgr hadn't been dropping the ball on this! 

Along with I have read their study materials that I have perused through on my flights home and again nothing stands out at me as being nefarious..Just like the generalizations on BP not everything they talk about or in their study material will work in every market.

On this note: I've found that LOCAL Mom & Pop suppliers are more competitive, give better service because the local market is all they get and they can't stand bad reviews or lost customers.

I couldn't stand to watch my landlord double up (probably more) every month with my rental payments.My first purchase is near a college and I know that I can get significantly higher rent from students...However, I know first hand the damage a college student can bring to an apartment/ house/ neighborhood. 

get a appraisal on one of the 100 and see where it stands, the rest should be similar.

Then foreclose, if your contract/docs are all good, on your second, if there's a clause that covers borrowers necessity to keep 1st in good standing?

Good to hear you've given the tax angle thought ... my advice on starting local hands on 1st still stands, otherwise instead of a boardroom or CEO, you may turn it over to a turnkey provider that may or may not align with your goals :)

The numbers have been demonstrated ad infinitum; two of the factors that make real estate, especially buy & hold rentals, attractive vs. other forms of investment are leverage and permanency (the house stands 'forever', at least from the perspective of the investor's lifespan).