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> why I don't just abstract the entire thing away with a REIT or other similar investment vehicle

Because REITs don't allow you to invest in one house via improvements at your discretion.

At least in the Bay Area, buying a somewhat run-down / older property, renting it out for a number of years, then renovating/upgrading it right before you sell has been a very profitable strategy for homeowners who have some project management skill.

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In the Bay Area, buying whatever property, doing nothing with it, and selling after a few years has been a very profitable strategy. Will it continue to be so from now on?

I thought it would tank in 2001, then again in 2008, and yet again in the current bubble. It seems like the environs get hit, but SF and SV itself seem to be immune.

Los Angeles (where we were) is a bit more volatile (ie it actually goes down now and then). If I had bought property in the Bay Area in, say, 1999-2000, I’m quite certain I’d be more willing to put up with tenant bullshit in exchange for nearly endless appreciation.

YMMV!

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