> buying houses in Ohio every couple of months, simply because they can
I doubt that, and even if they are I'm not sure it's a wise choice. Housing is cheap here compared to other areas, but it's not that cheap (unless you're buying stuff I'm not sure you'd want to buy anyway).
You're doubting what? That there are people doing this?
It's not hard on a bay area L4+ salary to have a spare 40-50k several times a year (20% of a 200-250k property), especially if you are snowballing with profits from multiple other properties.
With it often comes property taxes. There's the time and cost of maintenance. There's the friction of being able to easily relocate for a better paying job.
Worst of all, past performance is no indication of future returns. That is, it's possible your property won't appreciate, at least not sufficiently. For example, think Detroit. Or beachfront property in say 25 yrs. Or McMansions. Will smaller less consumption-minded families in the future want them?
Housing works as an investment because everyone is in on the scheme. The gov. The banks. Everyone. And it's still a roll of the dice.
* Very few high paying companies in the area and they were less likely to move due to owning.
* They made about 3.3k/year in appreciation for 20 years. That's on the order of a 13 hour per month side gig.
* Any gains definitely erased by the amount of labor they put into things such as mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, having the washing machine hose disconnect and leak water down into the basement. All of these little things added up to many man hours across.