re: If you had 500k to invest in the real estate market..

Multifamily values are as high as they're going to get in terms of value/rent. Any increases in value from here will be purely rent growth driven, IMO. Development is still going to give you the best return but is risky and would be dependent on your experience/capabilities.

I'm not as familiar with the BR apartment market as other markets in the SE. Investors are starting to flow into Class B apartment properties as Class A returns have likely reached a floor. I'd invest in Class B apartments in good locations close to LSU and downtown with potential for Value-Add. An issue a lot of people run into in Value-Add is dealing with contractors and having to outsource everything. If you can handle that yourself, I think there is money to be made in purchasing a $40-50K per unit apartment property that has rents at $500-600 per unit and putting a $10-15k per unit renovation and pushing rents up $200-300/unit. I'd look for 10-30 unit properties to do this especially with your budget.

Personally I'd probably try to do a 10-12 unit with an equity investment of $250k and then do another one with the remaining equity so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket.