I've seen this "It's tough being an operator" argument a number of times. That's not the problem. The problem was that they bought assets that had no business being owned by a publicly traded microcap. Owning residential rental properties is a tough business when it's run out of your kitchen, it's impossible inside the cost structure of a public company, not to mention the lack of REIT status. The thing is, SYTE already knew this, as SYTE already had rental properties it was trying to sell in Virginia. I don't know why management thought that rental properties in Kentucky would somehow perform better than rentals in Virginia. It was a bad business in Virginia, what would suddenly change in Kentucky?
So no, the problem wasn't a lack of operating experience. They just bought the wrong asset and then, amazingly, bought the same exact asset a second time, expecting magic to happen. And yes, I'm aware that it was different management teams that, incredibly, made the exact same mistake. The first management team was fired for stepping in shit and then the second management team stepped in the exact same shit. It's bonkers.