They live beyond their means wasting money on unnecessary luxuries..

I will select renters in good jobs that are less cyclical and consumer or luxury based.

Larger developers are building upscale apartments like crazy here (literally #3 market in the country for these luxury builds) which has saturated the market making tenants less inclined to pay top dollar for older multi family residences.

I own 4 condos (all Seattle) and two shares in warehouse properties (Auburn and Puyallup) as well as a share of a rental ski lodge (Crystal Mountain).Have capital up to $100k cash to invest.CCIM, Masters of Science in Real Estate Development at UW (pending), high level of financial savvy and experienced in construction, tenant management & due diligence.

I worked in several different industries (army, corporate,...) i ended up working as chief engineer in the luxury super yacht business.

@Tim Bee the net is almost meaningless without knowing what "per door" means.A "door" could be a mobile home, or a 10k sq ft luxury mansion.Indeed, they often mention on BP podcasts that some investors will brag about their door count without disclosing what they mean by a "door"...10 doors might be an impressive portfolio if it's all A grade luxury homes, or it might be pretty unimpressive it's a crumbling D grade apartment complex....$300/mo cashflow could be a home run for the mobile home, but could be a complete disaster for a mansion.

In this town there are 2 classes of lodging.

All my friends careers were going great and they spent their money on $500,000 homes and luxury import vehicles. 

If you aren't looking for luxury then you can find some good multis in the city (in good areas) that will let you live for free or super cheap. 

VCT is so thin, you could probably lay down some luxury vinyl tile right over the top of it as long as the VCT is cleaned of any dirt, grime or wax and is secured.