By adding a seating area around a travertine fireplace, I gave the illusion of the dining room being extended to the outdoors area as well.

It's an illusion, and a dangerous one. 

You hit most of my favorite hot buttons:1 - Basic math2 - Compounding3 - re-investing your cash's "friends" (profit/cash flow)I would add this:1 - Cash you put into the deal upfront is the amount of negative cash flow you are starting with...and the cash flow you get after t hat must first catch up to your cash in to break even...before you start to make money.2 - Adding more money (cash) upfront to change a negative CF deal into a positive one is an illusion.  

i have no illusions of ot being get rich quick.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."  

This will give them the illusion that they will benefit from leaving and will cooperate with selling the property.

It is just a data point to understand, where motives may lie and more importantly, that "skin in the game" can very well be an optical illusion.

@John McKee, as others noted: less work (presumably), different risk:reward requirements, other investment objectives.The thing I found about these forums is it creates the illusion that Value-Add is the best and only option anyone should ever look at and core or core+ assets don't make sense.  

I think what makes it extra appealing in the home owner's situation is it "gives" the illusion of person to person help rather than having a corporation swing in and rescue them.  

Although these were merely paper transactions and did not involve an actual sale, the transfer prices were as much as 10 times the initial acquisition price, thereby fostering the illusion that properties were being developed and sold at significant profits.Aside from the $2.5 million spent on advertising, O'NEAL also allegedly used investor assets to pay more than $2.5 million in salary and commissions, more than $700,000 to furnish Pinnacle's offices, and more than $3.5 million in general and administrative expenditures.