One block will be stable and look great and the next street over will look terrible and most of the buildings boarded up.  

With rooms you have the added expense of utilities, as you said, but also the added management of conflict resolution, utility control (lock box on the thermostat and making frequent visits to inspect), common area cleaning, theft of food, more traffic, etc.After doing the math, a good tenant is more stable and cost effective than renting rooms.

For example, you can find stable duplexes in C areas that rent at $600-$800/unit for low to mid 100's, or $800-$900/unit for mid to high $100's. 

Low price point and stable market. it has not yet seen the highs and lows of some other areas.

.- It's in a stable MSA and our belief is at the right asking price the units will fill, but it's hard to forecast how long it will take to fill with tenants that meet our (reasonable) criteria and the correct asking rent.- We've spoken to some local PMs who share the belief it will fill within 2-3 months, but it's a matter of time, and landing on the right price.- The building is 10 small studios/1 bedrooms (~450 sf) Any guidance on how to evaluate something like this?

Commercial real estate investments can offer long-term returns that are both healthy and stable.

My usual stable of lenders have switched their guidelines to "cost" as opposed to the new appraised value of properties once we get them fully occupied.Thanks, Suhan

I am looking to make my income more stable through real estate investing.Right now I have around 30k on hand to make a cashdown and a few familly members ready to help me get a loan. 

Then the next one took about 4 more months and that was a $700k house that a friend was selling, maid around $10k, then it just became more stable and deals start to flow in slowy.

Ok,  so if a 10 Cap reflects a reasonably stable market in Springfield, AnyState, USA, the property's worth 100K.   4 years later, Mom & Pop have the same tenants, haven't raised the rents, and the market goes out of control.