The utility company doesn't manage your property...they provide paid services until they're not paid anymore. 

That is done via placing the highest quality tenant possible, keeping issues to absolute minimum, keeping maintenance and service calls to minimum, because to make it work properties have to operate on cruise-control.

Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

Ive testified at all levels of government on behalf of the organizations Ive worked with typically on the intersection of data and housing policy. 

Their pro formas felt optimistic with providing 6% annual appreciation and property management that is only about 6% of rent so I take it with a grain of salt (they offer their own property management services but it has terrible reviews on Yelp so I would probably go with someone else). 

You can use a tool like AirDNA to get estimates of property performance in your specific market and with your typical size and configuration of home.

Stand out, be unique, and offer something of value that you would love if you were a traveler (cleaning service, amenities, a theme, etc.)Happy to help you find a place if you want some help on the agent side.

You don't typically don't want this, as this is the lowest evaluation.2.

Though it may cash flow well based on their current debt service, when you compare the income it produces to the equity they have is it actually even a good investment for them from an ROI perspective or would they be better off liquidating and redeploying?

The cash value in the policy service as collateral for the loan.