I thought I'd share my experience in the buying real estate you've never barely seen.
I've resisted buying real estate all my life, other than a couple of houses. I didn't think I had any particular unique skill evaluating real estate and even with property managers it is still a hassle at times. But I think Warren Buffett/Ben Graham observation that Mr. Market is manic depressive and irrationally optimistic and foolishly pessimistic at times applies to real estate, bitcoins, gold, baseball cards, and tulips even more so than it does to stocks.
2009 and 2010 were an obvious times to buy stocks. However, by 2011 I figured that most of the easy money was made in the market. I started looking at real estate in the beaten down areas, the California Island Empire, Vegas, and Florida. I ruled out Florida due to my complete unfamiliarity with the area. Cash on Cash returns were in the low double digits and it was significant cheaper to buy than to rent. My belief is that for both financial reasons,and psychological reasons the after tax cost to buy (with 20% down) should always be the same or higher than the cost to rent. If that isn't the case in a real estate market one of two things will happen over the intermediate term either rents will fall or prices will rise.
The first property I bought in Vegas, I spent about week looking with my terrific Realtor (Arebelspy recommendation.) in 2011. The Vegas market was warming up but not hot yet, and there was only one competing offer. By the time i was ready to buy again in 2012 the Vegas market was super hot. In almost every case I put in an offer for a place I was competing with at least 10 other offers and several more than 20.. I put in more than 30 offers to get 3 place in 2012. In one case a short sale that took 6+ month to close, I honestly had no memory of the place. I also put in some offers for place I had only seen in on the internet. I am quite sure I would have done as well simply telling my realtor here is $350K go buy properties.
Before I bought I did talk to everyone I knew who had owned rental real estate, including Nords. I did get some good advice, but there is a difference between book learning and actual experience so at point you have to pull the trigger. Most everyone I talked to thought invested in Vegas "should" work out well, but I notice none of them were doing it, which gave me pause.
I have zero doubt that somebody with knowledge of any of the following: home repairs, property management, a realtor, familiarity with the local real estate market, construction, escrow/real estate law has valuable experience. If you have these skill than certainly having boots on the ground is the way to go..
On the other hand, I also think it is more important to get an mediocre deal, in a great market, than get a good deal, in a mediocre market. I think it is possible to identify significantly undervalued markets just using numbers. This is why I was not all surprised to see a list of 5 best RE markets, all of which were in Michigan which is exactly were Arebelspy is buying.