I am only coming up on my first decade, so defer to Joe.Where you can get burned very easily with vacancy is assuming you won't find a tenant, so lowering your standards and getting someone that not only breaks the lease, but destroys the place.  

We've owned the storage facilities for decades, so I am no help with your other questions. 

I love Pinellas and see it as a huge growth opportunity over the next decades!

It’s likely a market where multi’s are overpriced with minimal appreciation but a decade or two+ of tourist traffic supporting str’s.

Every decade, our gov't does this thing called a "census", and collects lots of data in the process, and publishes that data too ...

@Engelo Rumora city estimated $16,000 for need repairs.My client and I believe for him around $10,000.He going the section 8 route I believe.Possible rent middle six hundred ( low estimate ).Client thinking of also: lease to ownHe is estimating about $50,000 - $68,000 minimumreturn on his money over next decade.

Then talk to officer on the street.Postmen have walked the streets every day, sometimes for decades in the same neighborhood.

It's probably safe to say that rents & housing prices have increased in the neighborhood over the past decade.  

I can’t think of a third possibility.If you’ve had 11 units unoccupied(out of 12) through the most brutal cold snap in decades- you may be in for an even more unpleasant surprise.

Had a cabin in Crestline for a few decades and watched the level of the population change from owners of a vacation home to those that bought because it was all they could afford.