As for the rent increases, current state law dictates a 5% increase plus inflation (2-3% usually) so yes it will take a couple years to get the middle units to market value. 

I just wonder why an investor will just sit with cash in hand waiting while inflation and appreciation east at the buying power of the money they have before they will look at the market and realize that 2016 strategies will just not work right now. 

Does anything exist with 5-15% down that doesn't have a grossly inflated rate? 

Even if you have no experience doing home renovation, you will pay a lot less in contractor fees than you would in an inflated purchase price.

Saving money in a bank is safe but that practice will not keep up with inflation. 

Please share any insights @syed, I cant seem to make the numbers work when HOA and Taxes make up ~1000 in flat out expenses

The mortgage is your biggest expense, get it locked in, hold onto the property and let time and inflation be your frient.I wouldn't use 4.7% because that's the high side, use what the current rate you qualify for.

@Fan Bi it's all just speculation and I agree, you can't sit out of the market entirely, but I will say I was a lot less cautious in 2013 than I am today.Unfortunately, as human beings we are inherently imperfect prediction machines - whether it's real estate prices / cap rates, Federal reserve interest rate moves, the stock market, inflation/deflation, tax/economic legislation, etc.For any one of those factors in isolation, we might be able to make an educated guess and be mostly right, but combining them into one big soup and your guess is literally as good as mine or the next person's.And then to further complicate things, the right answer for you and your situation might not be the right answer for me and my situation, or someone else and their situation.It really does end up being as much of an art as a science, and makes me think most predictions I read online - including my own - are probably not worth the paper they're printed on (pun intended).

This then inflates the value but it does it in a way that isn't really helping.

But I can't help but think about the currency inflation the Federal Reserve and government have been pushing the past few decades.