Coming late to the thread… I was going to post the same, but you beat me to it.
The apartments will probably service the debt even with 65% occupancy.
A 20-unit apartment would be much easier to manage than 20 SFRs.
And 20 condos are much easier to manage than 20 SFRs.
Are 20 condos easier to manage than a 20 unit apartment？
I think it’s best to own 20 condos when people get old and do not want too much repairs. Hoa will do all the building work for you
Or just buy a very new apartment building and have a professional management company to handle it
Easiest to manage: buy 20 stocks. No repairs needed! No professional management company needed!! No HOA dues needed!!! No brainer enjoy all the upside hassle free laughing all the way to the bank enjoy your getaway in the Bahamas while the rest of the landlords struggle to deal with their ever cumbersome tenants… 
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Better than 20 stocks is to buy an index fund on S&P 500. Don’t even need to monitor the 20 stocks occasionally to see whether there is a need to swap or re-balance.
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That’s my assumption too. Not sure where they got that the new campus will be for all new employees.
Put all your money in the S&P 500 is mediocre gain at best. If you aspire to be @hanera you better put some money into a few good stocks…
If you compare cash flow alone, Fresno looks better, but overall return mountain view stands better.
Assume the buyer looks a home like this, rent 10 years and then sell
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/337-Pettis-Ave-94041/home/1426932
Compare 2.5M apartment complex at fresno vs this home
Buy, build and flip (2.5M appx)
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/59-Devonshire-Ave-94043/home/620844
Fresno has higher risk when economy tanks while mountain view lower risk when economy tanks.
Why?
People will always need food. Fresh local food. Not going to come from China.
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Silicon Valley used to be a valley of heart’s delight. Why can’t Fresno becomes agrotech valley in a few decades? Future is unpredictable. Use the past to gauge the future is ok but don’t be too fixated on the conclusion.
A company Sun is willing only to buy over for a couple of billion of dollars in 1997 becomes the largest market cap today.
In 1999, Yahoo! didn’t want to pay $1 million for Google but is willing to pay $5.7 billion for broadcast.com.
You have to look at the demographics of BA vs the demographics of Fresno. Also, look at the geographical position of BA vs the geographical position of Fresno. Also, look at the type of industry BA favors vs the type of industry Fresno favors. Future is unpredictable and anything can happen. But barring a complete disaster hitting the BA, Fresno is in no position to compete. There’s a reason why all of us own properties here in the BA and not Fresno. So if you still insist on investing in Fresno as a better option, put your money where your mouth is! Let see who is brave enough to make a million dollar gamble with Fresno real estate
That’s exactly what I try to say… agriculture vs hi-tech.
People are always going to need food. Tech industry may stay around as it is today… for another 10 years, 30 years, nobody knows. Look at what happened in Detroit. I don’t see why the same could not happen to Silicon Valley.
P.s.
I am not buying in Fresno and don’t own anything there.
I’d avoid places like Fresno based on this Goldman research:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/06/opioid-crisis-keeping-us-from-reaching-full-employment-goldman.html
Even as the economy grows and adds jobs, there are too many drug addicts. It’ll keep cities with big drug problems from enjoying the economic gains which would limit your appreciation.
Anything is possible. SV survives one round of change already. From semiconductor to software 
[quote=“ptiemann, post:52, topic:2638”]
I am not buying in Fresno and don’t own anything there.
[/quote]Neither did I.
Compete is not the right way to look at thing. They are currently in different industry.
Come on, this is way backward looking. Are we at the dawn of an agricultural revolution? That happened 5000 years ago! We are in the Information Age now and hi-tech is what sells, not agriculture.
If the Bay Area ever becomes Detroit I will be moving to China not Fresno. Because that would mean America has lost its mind and plunged into an abyss.
So that means both @hanera and @ptiemann are empty talkers. They just both insisted on the possible merits of Fresno but will not put their money where their mouth is.
I didn’t say so, you are putting words in my mouth, I merely say do not be so fixated with your conclusion. Based on current facts, is reasonable to come to that conclusion but future is unpredictable and some events may develop, so don’t be fixated to that conclusion. Btw, I completely don’t know Fresno except that the farmers market guys are from Fresno 
You seem to know enough about it to speculate that it could turn into a high tech agricultural hub in a few decades
Plucking from the air based on nothing, can’t I do that? You should have asked whether I have any basis 
, seems to blindly thought people always have basis 
I have no basis.
By the way “hi tech” and “agricultural” seems to be an oxymoron. The whole premise of technology is to lessen people’s reliance on agriculture not make them more dependent on it.