The theory goes that if you invest ahead of the 'wave' of progress you stand to reap the rewards of appreciation and a rising tide lifting all boats effect.The question I have is how to do actually assess, systematically what the path of progress of a given area is?  

To have 10million in 20 yrs, I feel like I need to go high risk I reward.

Rewards card of your choice.

It's unhealthy, not rewarding, unsteady, and the expenses make it barely profitable) he's trying to find some magic path to high reward, low risk. 

I may stand alone in this regard, but I really enjoy the rewards of upgrading windows from old, ugly, aluminum framed single pane to nice vinyl dual pane windows.

Not that you can try to negotiate better but it would at least be an interesting exercise to become more stringent on the property profile and back-off on the cash-on-cash return and see where it gets you.Or if cash-on-cash is the paramount threshold you can seek out value-add properties (risk/reward there) or some alternative markets that aren't as hot as Seattle.  

High leverage equals high risk and hopefully high reward. 

If the reward doesn't match the risk, it's not worth doing.

You might be taking on a ton of risk for very little reward.

But with risk comes reward, you could get a deep discount with a fully vacant unit if you have the experience and team to turn it around.