Interest rates are low by historical standards, and we have had a whole generation of people remain as renters (delay household formation) for much longer than similar age-group people have done in the past.

I wanted to purchase a property prior to my departure from here (Okinawa, Japan) so I have an address for the military to ship all of my household goods to.

., Specific neighborhoods TBD, long term drivers of market; median household income, labor force participation, bank lending and household formationCriteria- TBD, Define your LTV, cash flow, max purchase amount, max rehab amount, max timeframe, etc.

I was expecting people to be unfamiliar with that (even though short pay was common enough before short sale became a household word).  

Read the rental agreements carefully and make an appointment with each household to go over the existing rental terms and to inspect the units.

FIVE MILLION households (of the 126 million is the US, plus 10% more in Canada?)

median income per household, true unemployment rate, etc. 

Require 3 times the rent in household income.

Because (in my experience) renters tend to be people that earn less than median household income.

State, local and federal government sources exist for these funds and most have a household income maximum.