Put another way, I don't think the economies of scale for a larger investor can add enough efficiency/savings for the larger investors to displace the irrational investors they are competing with--even over a short term (such as 3-5 years).

- With the HVAC -- is it a 1.5 ton low-efficiency system or a 4.5 ton high-efficiency system?

Whatever works but at the end of the day communication is key.

This is likely what you'll want to think about and research when it comes to analyzing longer-term trends in any (relatively-) efficient market.

OTOH a highly efficient fleet of automated vehicles can keep busy most of the time, or be parked when they're not in use.

Decide what you can do with your “spare” time efficiently and what your partner brings.

That agent should have good communication skills and be willing to preview these homes for you.

This summer we were gutting the lower unit as part of an energy efficiency retrofit and rewired the entire building, plus moved the entrances from the back of the building to the front corner (which required installing 75' of buried conduit) ... the total bill was about 16K ... not cheap, but it would have been more if we were not opening up the walls in the downstairs unit ... being a balloon-framed house, between the attic and open walls on the first floor , it was easy to fish wires ... and then install all the fire stops.

The ROI is huge if you can service medical offices efficiently & without the constant errors the avg $12/hr billing clerks create.

I even use Skype and TeamViewer to communicate with clients so I'd highly recommend looking for one of the best with great references that interviews well with you.