To me, that doesn't feel high enough given my average market returns of 8% and stocks are more liquid.

@Christian Beebe You're saying you spend $150k on average per year with credit cards for expenses on income properties and you're able to pay-off on average 95% of the card balances each month leaving 5% exposed to being charged interest each month

I understand real estate takes a tremendous amount of grit, but what does the average day look like for you if you are one of the investors putting in 100 hours a week? 

TIA.If you want this house (that's the first question) and it has some cosmetic deficiencies and it's in a great neighborhood, I would offer him a lower sales price (like 30% lower if that's more in line with what the property will appraise for), take his financing if:there is no prepayment penalty and it's 100% financing the cash flow is acceptableand then refinance it with a lower rate product with no seasoning on title or wait out the conventional seasoning period and refinance it with a Fannie Mae loan. 

Be lucky you have those people in place, but don't expect that to be the case in the future unless you have 1) a product that can't be beat, or 2) a price that can't be beat to encourage your tenants to stay. 

I understand real estate takes a tremendous amount of grit, but what does the average day look like for you if you are one of the investors putting in 100 hours a week?

There are of course better areas, in which the “average” homes run about 50k.

What I'm hearing is that you are selling two investment lots and want to exchange into an avocado farm and want to make some improvements to that productive farm. 

the banks are simply cross selling their  products   figuring the more connections they have with you - the longer you will be a customer ...often they will offer an incentive  like a slightly lower rate  or removal of a loan fee  in order to  entice you to open up an account ….. don't overthink this  option …..all the best

Another thing I use to do before this book when I was getting started was to walk through Home Depot/Lowes and get familiar with average costs for big repair items like water tanks, HVAC, appliances, kitchen/bathroom cabinets, flooring etc.