I would be very assertive in explaining to them that they work for me, and I set the terms of said agreement.

Has he made assertions about what it will rent for?

@Beatriz Pagola,  You are way off base with that zip code and crime rate assertion. 

Essentially what I'm trying to say, is you can't make the assertion that one asset performs better than another unless you're prepared for an apples to apples comparison.

You have made three assertions of fact: (i) good area, (2) rents below market, and (3) tenants wanting to renew their leases. 

@Mike D'ArrigoI keep finding myself fascinated by the mechanics of this scam, the intricacies of making it run, of making well-meaning people of reasonable intelligence believe in it, of keeping it going with all so many obviously well-meaning defenders on social media who clearly have no idea what it's like actually running rentals like these and keep asserting that the Morrises must be wholly innocent of any wrongdoing here, screaming spring lambs brought to slaughter by the wicked and jaded people at Oceanpointe they worked with.

Again, this is an attorney question, but if I were an attorney (and I'm not), I think I'd assert fraud in this case. 

One of my main areas to work on is my ability to be assertive and push my contractor while still maintaining a positive relationship...

Contrary to your assertion, the only 'emotion' involved is the basic background detail on the matter in the first paragraph, another point in reference to the fact that we typically aren't coldly calculating and trigger happy with regard to our tenants' transgressions, plus a summary to the extent of the personality type we are dealing with and the various permutations that we might consequently have to deal with.

But I have more than my gut and anecdotes to back this assertion.