@Bob CraneBloomberg radio talked about this issue recently.Housing starts are lagging the improvement in the rest of the housing market, which is adding to the lack of inventory for buyers.In a very broad sense, many of the workers that were in the industry left after the downturn in 2007-2008.So, there is a huge shortage of workers.

Search the forums for lots of discussion on the topic.But, to be succinct, imagine buying a $1M fourplex that generates $8500/m in gross income.Now, make a spreadsheet to figure out what each of the following could be:"Cash Flow" - The amount of money left in your bank account at the end of the month (ignoring reserves and non-recurring expenses)Free Cash Flow - The amount of money you can count on at the end of the year (allocating $ for reserves, vacancy, etc)Total Return - The amount that your net worth will increase by holding the investment (includes free cash flow + gains from paying down mortgage principal)Total Projected Return - The amount that your net worth will increase, based on market projections (includes projected gains/losses due to housing market price changes, development/value add for the property, or changes in CAP rate).IRR - Wrap it all up for the expected length of time you'll hold the property to see how it'll perform overall and to compare it to properties in other locales.Now, adjust all those for your personal tax situation to figure out whether it's a good investment for you.For San Diego, you should be able to look at different situations to see why it makes sense for some people to invest there.I haven't yet seen broad agreement on exactly what to call each of those terms *for REI* - there's a difference in terms that real estate finance pros use vs. how us mere mortals speak.  

Also not to burst your bubble but most multifamily investments will be 25 percent down unless you’re owner occupying it.If you look in your local market and see (for example) that an average SFR is 250k, then I’d say you have two broad options.1.

For the second month in a row, single-family home sales increased broadly across the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area.

That is such a broad statement, as you can buy whatever you can afford, right?

The big firms charge too much and the very small firms are not specialized enough (broad generalization).

Development involves a broad based knowledge of finance, real estate, planning, design, construction, people skills, project management, etc. 

If you are talking debt service then you would only be breaking even until about 30% down, and then you're looking at 2% returns.Making plenty of assumptions here, so you'd have to run your own specific numbers to truly know, but in broad strokes this investment ranges from "meh" to "might as well invest in a CD".

Any "system" being offered by a group like that is probably of no more use to you than the simple rules of thumb that are helpful in a broad sense but not necessarily true for any individual investment: the 2% rule, the 50% rule, the 70% rule... hmm might be time to come up with more creative names for all these rules.  

I drew contrast to the two sides of the spectrum where on the left side is a non-performing loan.