Dan SchemerhornI'm a framing contractor by trade with a builders lic.

Mostly all the professional (lawyers, accountants, etc.) who ply their trade in real estate, probate, etc, know or quickly learn who the experienced, well funded players are.

Take advantage of the equity I have and try to locate larger commercial buildings and trade up?

Alyn I would look at the annual rent growth trend for the unit mix of your apartments for the location.As I said earlier if supply is low and demand is high you can increase the rents by a bunch and accelerate the CAP.If you are real busy with your job and want turn key then yes you will usually get a smaller CAP for that luxury.As you said for your goals the bigger return isn't as important.At the end of the day it's your life and your investment and money so it's your call.I have some investors that want an 8 cap,some a 12 cap,and some a 16 cap going in.I tell them fine if you want a property needing major work in a war zone.There is nothing in my area in a good location trading at more than a 10 cap period that is in good shape.The reason is other new investors are giddy with a 10% return versus a treasury or CD giving them 1 to 2 % if they are lucky or their stocks are tanking hard.It's just all relative to your investing style as to what will make sense.

Who has some real tricks of the trade?

If not you will rely on a property manager and there network of service people.Some electricians want to charge a 100 fee for installing a wall socket plug with a service call.You can do it yourself for about 50 cents in parts if you have the knowledge.So repairs and what they cost will depend on how you intend to manage and repair the property (yourself,hiring a handyman,or hiring a skilled trade for that job,or have an onsite maintenance repair man).Since your property is small hopefully there will not be too many repairs issues.Don't fool yourself that since it is newer the property doesn't have problems.I watch Mike Holmes and he goes in property after property with many being just a few year sold and finds tons of problems sometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars or more in repairs to get it fixed right.Many builders will cut corners or hire subs for certain jobs and be unaware of the problems and things that were not done correctly.

Others (like myself) combine investment with hobby and strive for 15+% returns... still others turn this into a second (or first) job and are looking for 20+% returns.There is a definite trade off... but who are we to place value on other people's time?

All stocks are local.What kind of return would you expect from a stock that is trading at 27 times its past year's earnings and grows its earnings by 5% a year over the next 5 years?

Lot's of info is traded and given such as contractors and tradesmen.

However, I am a real estate broker by trade and I am very invested in seeing the neighborhood grow and develop.