These are the properties that 1) are inexpensive and

the heloc financing is relatively inexpensive.  

@Adam Christopher, you definitely have enough equity in your houses and with your cash to make the move to apartment building ownership, though probably not in expensive Hawaii. 

Cheap is rarely inexpensive.

I expect slight increases in expenses over the years, but this double hit, taxes and insurance up so much in one year, with market rents not growing fast enough to cover is eating into our cash flow.           

This allows me to look at a potential deal that may not hold up numbers-wise for other buyers who cannot build as inexpensively (relatively) as a potential deal for this particular investor.

Condo insurance is inexpensive so my net operating is very low. 

Great question and I bet alot of folks in expensive markets are struggling with this decision. 

Fix the roof (likely relatively inexpensive) and then sell the old house.

Homes there are inexpensive and it’s a good rental market so I’m looking to invest in single family homes there.However, I live in the NY/NJ area where multiple family units are common (different from Ohio unless it’s around the university areas) NJ of course is very different than NY.