[We played "Cash Flow" by Rich Dad Poor Dad and that game ROCKED my world with insight.

I've played with the rent vs buy calculators online and the result is so dependent on so many factors, so it's hard to know.

Then we reverse engineered that process as a starting point.And yes, those ugly P&L statements you see tell the story of PM's that play the system and play their landlords eventually putting them out of business.

And different variable play into the process as you move through it. 

I would recommend doing a house hack in Seattle for appreciation play and also invest in MKE for cashflow.

To answer your question yes market conditions in the past have played a huge role in the success of many deals.

I'm not an accountant and don't play one on TV.

I think we’re more interested in cash flow over an appreciation play, mainly as a way to diversify our FIRE strategy. 

We, the people who made our CEO’s millions, deserve the praise and appropriate compensation for busting our asses 40 to 80 hours a week, so that they could go play golf and write it off as a business meeting.I chose a few years back to convert my time to fixing the problems that I care most about, instead of helping build up the people who treat 80% of us as an expendable resource.

At the same started doing small deals (duplex, triplex, 6 units, etc where I could execute a heavy rehab / value add play).2012: Bought my first bigger deal at 35 units with one $$ money partner already in my network.2014: Syndicated a 60 unit deal and never looked back.