to me part of the picture is the quality and liquidity of the asset..

Buying quality assets.

The architect and contractor think the work is good enough in terms of quality but there was a dormer added without permit and some encroachment past the required open yard that was done before there was a law about it over 100 years ago. 

You’ve got to research the quality and experience of the sponsors.

If you aren't offering enough value right now to charge a quality rate work on what you need to do to keep the rates higher.

The most important qualities are sales ability, being uncomfortable (when marketing), being analytical, and being ethical.Its a sales job at the end of the day, so its great when its great.  

Being a local company, providing quality housing and great service is very important to us.

But in those better areas most of the turnover costs is just tenant damage and wear and tear which you will have anyway.That style of floor plan could be under a hundred K to build but watch the quality.So unless your build quality is high to justify the high total cost why not buy existing and just move the lots at a profit?

Tax lien, code violation, divorce, probate, driving for dollars, deceased : these are all generally high quality.

With a full renovation to condo-quality rentals, the numbers I'm seeing are in the 350k ballpark with an additional 6-9 months of vacancy, let's call it 400k required.