The biggest issue was having far below market rents when I purchased.

I’ve been dollar cost averaging with real estate over the last 9 years buying 2 houses a year to rent out.

In a market where it is increasingly difficult to buy real estate, where expenses are going up, and rents are trending flat or downward, what drives you to keep investing in income properties?

The reason is the rent-to-price ratio is good so you can cash flow, and most of the West side doesn’t have a Point of sale inspection which is really annoying.

Just get yourself in the game and own the roof over your head with a monthly mortgage you can afford comfortably, anything beyond that rent the other rooms out if there are any.

The new listings I have seen are laughably expensive (mortgage is 2x rents for example). 

It does not.Here is the complete, relevant statute (as amended):"Real estate broker" means any individual or business entity, including a partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company, who, for compensation or valuable consideration, (i) sells or offers for sale, buys or offers to buy, or negotiates the purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, including units or interest in condominiums, cooperative interest as defined in § 55.1-2100, or time-shares in a time-share program even though they may be deemed to be securities or (ii) leases or offers to lease, or rents or offers for rent, any real estate or the improvements thereon for others, or (iii) sells or offers to sell, buys or offers to buy, or negotiates or otherwise deals in real estate contracts, including assignable contracts, on two or more occasions in any 12-month period.The newest language (in italics) refers to individuals or entities who DEAL IN REAL ESTATE CONTRACTS. 

Hi Shan- Did you rent through AirBnB or VRBO or some similar platform?

Obviously the location of a property doesn’t impact the down payment/financing but there is a property 2 doors down from the property my wife and I just purchased and started renting April 1.  

Look to see what comps are selling for, on rentometer to see what things are renting for.... look at where things were purchased and if sold quickly after what price the 2nd sale happened.