I'm out, but I saw that you are managing estates and I shivered at the thought. Think of how much money your family could have made if you knew something about leverage.
I guess, based upon your approach, the value of the homes is not included as an investment, it's a widget or whatchamacallit, and therefore the equity will not be passed along to the heirs.
Good luck to your family.
If you want leverage.... go put all of your money in Sirius Satellite Radio. You can buy it for 3.57 per share. In 20 years it will be worth $100. But if you really want leverage... you gotta put it all there. Any dollar you don't put there is a dollar unlevereged... right? A person who invests all of their money in the housing market is doing the same thing. Especially if they're buying rental property that won't pay the bills right now.
Leverege is a code word for "risk". High risk does not always mean high return.