But I'd be more likely to apply it to someone who has survived both the up and the down parts of a market cycle rather than just to someone who's done a lot of deals.

The reason you are confused about what swimming stroke you should use is because you didn't learn how to survive in the water and you think you can jump into the deep end!

You've got a lot of lessons to learn and several of them are bound to be expensive but you can survive them with cash.If you have decent credit you can walk into most barks and get a signature loan for $5 - 10k which would have been enough to fix your problems up front but may no longer be.If you leave in NYC and own a rental in Cleveland, get a real Property Management company. 

I can't seem to escape those pesky REITs, PEs, and hedge funds following us everywhere :)The good news is they often focus on the cheaper properties with highest rent ratios so sometimes there are some niches that can survive their onslaught (higher quality neighborhoods / price points with slightly lower caps)

MFH is something to add to the investment mix when the SFH model is too competitive.

We in Texas live by it or survive with it but some areas don't see the need.

Breaking even today means you're surviving during the good times... what's going to happen to your investment during the bad?

Not sure how they would like my 'business model'.  I

(My guess is that no-one who can afford a $1K rent payment is going to choose to move into a $30K house.)But if it really is true that the 'mentor' has been doing lots of these... well... all I can say is I'm not sure that is a model I would be comfortable emulating.

at almost any market condition, A bank will give you A loan. might not be a good loan or favorable terms but, if you bought right and maintained your property well, you could survive a down term with a bad loan for a couple of years until the market is recovered back to where you can a good long term loan again.