He had it on the market, took it off to "pay a fee that will increase value".

The biggest factor in the 1-5 year range is the age and condition of the building at the time of purchase.

This is crazy ...Does any landlord have a clause in their rental agreement stating that "tenant must upkeep the property to a condition and standard satisfy by the board of health State Sanity Code"?

But if you are willing to go to a lower purchase price you could increase your COC returns.

Go to where cash buyers work....at the courthouse steps buying at foreclosure auctions.If you see a guy bid on and/or buy more than one property,they are or work for cash buyers with lots of investment cash or lines of credit.Walk up to them after the auction and compliment them on their property purchases and offer to bring them more just like it before they get to the auctions.Ask for their criteria (sizes,locations,ages,numbers of bedrooms,condition,etc).Promise to follow up with them ASAP with a property they might like to inspect and purchase.Go to every courthouse you can get to in a few hours driving and you could easily create a list of 30 to 40 real professional cash buyers who act fact and know what they're doing to be profitable in this business.

That was my strategy and now my only intent is increasing monthly income by acquiring more.

Fargo has actually grown and seen an increase in demand for housing with a simultaneous decrease in unemployment, which was already ridiculously low, since the oil 'bust'.  

However, it only works in very specific circumstances under very specific conditions.  

We currently have a couple of SFRrentals up here in the WA area (Snohomish County) and are looking to increase our portfolio... but now I'm a bit torn on whether we continue to invest here in WA or if we look to AL now that we will likely be moving there by next summer.Pros and Cons that I've weighed for investing in AL as opposed to WA:Pro -1.) it's cheaper!!

I'm hoping some smart remodeling will allow me to rent for a higher figure and increase my cash flow.