Sweat equity.  

Hi Nokukhanya,It's not about an area you would like to live in, it's about an area you are willing to invest (blood, sweat, tears... and money) in.As far as off market searching goes, there is always opportunity it just depends on how much.

There is another side of the coin you can play but it takes sweat equity. 

I have a $10k renovation budget set aside for immediate value-add, and $10k in reserves and I plan to handle the majority of the cosmetic work myself to stabilize the property and build sweat equity.

@bo @Bo Smith thanks for the support believe its been blood, sweat, and tears.

I'd rather own 5 rock-solid properties than 10 where I'm sweating every payment and counting on appreciation.

She wants the heater pumping and I'm always sweating.

I wouldn't sweat over it.

You can purchase a building for below market value that needs work, put in some sweat equity and force the value of the building.

If not, the stated return is overstated.The core issue is that once you self-perform substantial portions of the work, the investment is no longer passive, and the cash-on-cash figure is being inflated by uncompensated sweat equity rather than true operating performance.