Cats like to play with mice until they've killed them, and then unless they are starving just leave it as is (given the choice a cat would eat a live animal versus a dead one any day).

The cap was the go-to metric 15 years ago when I started investing, now it seems way more factors come into play, such as appreciation, quality of the property (I bought something with a 22% cap in Braddock PA last year, but also the wind could blow it over at any minute...), and estimated future value increases.  

There are still several potential plays on these greystones, but again they're not just sitting out there for the taking (and they might not fit your investment model) 1.

More people will see these as ways to decrease a housing expense while living close to where they work or having option to live work play, which is why people live in large cities anyways. 

In July, we were closer to 30% year over year, so this slight decline is to be expected with seasonality at play.

In other words this is not a passive investment; motels need management and a small motel doesn’t afford the ability to pay for the type of management where the owner can play the role of passive investor.It sounds like you don’t really know if the owners are motivated to sell or not.

In my civilian life I'm a songwriter, and I also play trumpet with a few rock/R&B/pop bands and artists.

Great point - most PMs can be pretty bad at the asset management side of an investor’s portfolio and just focus on pure play property management responsibilities.

These referrals would be a great plug and play option as they already know what to do.

Substance generally rules over form in legal matters so be sure you know what liability you're assuming by playing this role and what you should justly receive in trade for the liability.