My reasoning behind my inquiry:From recent reports of price gouging, large investment firms buying single family home, property management monopolies, and the possibility of a housing market crash, I have become extremely concerned I will never be able to own a home and will be renting with little to no options to build equity from a young age.

Contractor: Finding contractors that don't cut corners and overcharge is EXTREMELY difficult.

It’s more likely they’ll agree to a lower price if you make them silence throws them off balance.When the turtle wins the raceSometimes, you can take this to the extreme.

I'm just an investor who is doing extremely well where I buy.

As far as vacancies, we got extremely lucky and the tenants just chose to find a new building.

I have 2 more 5 unit apartment building in Bay area which we can bundle with this insurance.Thanks,PreetiI have a good broker who I've been extremely happy with.measage me and I'll get you his info. 

I know of no one extremely wealthy who does not understand and utilize the concept that low interest debt such as student loans or mortgages to acquire assets with positive returns can be a very good thing.

So, this makes it extreme inconvenient to ONLY be given a new loan AFTER the sale of the current property, and thus concluding the old debt.Typically home builders have programs to deal with this type of transition. 

I have a big chunk of cash saved that I need to put to use, but I'm having trouble determining the value of a new build vs a more traditional deal just buying a rental and rehabbing.I've been presented with an opportunity from a builder to build a new duplex in an area which can be used as short-term or long-term rentals in Knoxville, TN.The builder is a rare combination of fast, cheap, AND quality, and has written a "cost-not-to-exceed" clause into the building, so it's an extremely competitive build cost (details below).The deal would cash flow very nicely, but it would force me to leave a chunk of cash into the property.Here are the numbers:duplex: each unit 2:2, 900 sq ftTotal cost of land, 1.2 acres (This is already leveled, excavated, and prepped for building): $80kMaximum build cost: $252kTotal cost: $332kCash in: $67,000ARV: $350kApprox cash flow: $800-1,100So, again, how does this compare to a typical buy/rehab?

These factors help create a ceiling effect--where, no matter how much the house is worth, there's a limit on how much you can charge in rent.And, as you mentioned--if leverage is involved, the debt service of a more expensive property often overshadows how much you can charge in rent.These factors contribute to rent not increasing proportionately with the price of the house (and there are probably other factors too, that I'm just not thinking of at the moment...haven't had my coffee yet).Having said that, there are some extremely niche markets with rental properties that cater to multi millionaires, and which are extremely expensive (certain areas of LA, for instance...probably the French Riviera --where there are probably lots of transient tenants worth tens or hundreds of millions)...but, those types of markets are obviously the exception to the rule...Good luck out there!