It looks like in your state (CT) like my state PA that electricity is de-regulated meaning that the consumer can actually choose the company that generates the electricity separate of the one that maintains the physical lines and handles billing.

a lot of times the numbers in those lower cost areas will look great on paper... and then 10 years of cash flow will get consumed by capex, vacancy, turnover, tax increases.

Plenty of dividend-paying stocks out there with solid dividend histories right now, paying well above 10 percent for me doing absolutely nothing.If I can earn 10 percent for doing nothing, I'm sure not interested in earning the same for having to do something, particularly when that something is time consuming, such as a rental.

Its the regular consumer that buys/sells a handful, at most, homes in their lifetime. 

any consumer debt, student loans?

I think bad actors will always be around, there is a need for some consumer protection, but I think regular laws can do this.

Study shows growing broccoli sprouts at home and consuming them daily counteracts carcinogenic effects of chemicals in food / environment (NIH, Amazon Link). - Nashville University Belmont Embracing AI in Education (NBJ).

Most consumers don't have enough education to know how to investigate and find quality agents, which is why our profession has such a poor reputation.

It will still count in her debt ratio on a consumer loan, but not on a mortgage with the new lender.

We've gone the full property manager route and didn't regret it because we've been lucky enough to have decent PM companies; however, we have found we can do this ourselves and it isn't time consuming or difficult.