Many banks are doing 10 year loans right now. 10 years is the industry standard for commercial loans written by CMBS shops and insurance companies.

In watching the foreclosure proceedings here (which are educational/entertaining/addicting) the biggest reason for a foreclosure getting kicked, and having to start over, is if they actually have a trial, and the "witness" for the plaintiff, which should be a rep of the servicer, doesn't have all the proper paper work, and more importantly can not speak to the "accuracy" of the payment history print out and explain their "industry standard business practices, controls and procedures".

Lived in Atlanta for 30 years and been in the financial services industry for 25+ years.

While commercial and industrial space is commonly priced and lease by the  square foot / m^2,  it is not really applicable to residential buildings (at lease in Canada and the U.S.A.).However, since you are buying a cash-flow and not a building, what is really of interest is the Net Operating Income (NOI) as Doug indicated and, after debt service, CFBT.The "fair" price will be how much you could/should pay for this cash-flow, which is determined by your required rate of return.  

If I were you, I would do my research to see where the thousands of music industry folks that are being priced out of The Gulch and Music Row are starting to migrate to find affordable living.  

http://dsps.wi.gov/Programs/Industry-Services/Industry-Services-Programs/Rental-Weatherizationhttp://dsps.wi.gov/Default.aspx?

in the commercial real estate industry. 

Its the same with Unlicensed PM's who think they can have a master lease and end up running a big PM operation....I had extensive conversations with the DRE investigator in MS over this issue and again he said its just a Ruse and they would shut down anyone without a valid brokers license if it appeared they were just acquiring multiple rentals on leases then releases them as in acting as a PM without a license.The Real Estate industry as a whole needs to help the government crack down on all this unlicensed activity by turning in these unlicensed people... that just try to flip contracts or homes without ever buying them...

Meanwhile, crushing the renting industry by moving those who are renting into homes they will someday own.

What was your horror story and do you think bad data is a viable problem in our industry?