And if in the past, that might been overlooked, in an environment of raising interest rates I would think they would welcome a reason to call the loan, grab the money and redeploy it at a higher rate, especially if the bulk of the interest was already collected (since you pay mostly interest in the beginning portion of the loan lifetime, and less later).

It selfishly  it turns out to be a better investment environment.

Securing a 30 year fixed rate vs. a loan with a 5 year balloon is much safer in today’s environment. 

I know what real estate is otherwise I wouldn't be on this site, I'm happily with someone and we plan to get married, I just wanted to give a bit of relief in such a professional  environment but I'll think twice next time.

I feel like I’m very blessed and lucky to be in my current situation and that I could be better utilizing my financial situation to build real wealth instead of clawing away at it annually via W2 wage income only (and saving only ~$70k/year).Unfortunately when I model out deals, with today’s cap rate environment, I can’t find anything that generates meaningful levered free cash flow.

It could create a bi-polar between the electorate where it becomes an us versus them type owners versus renters environment.    

Regulatory environment here matters, quite a bit. 

Dallas has a powerhouse economy beating national job growth by around 100bps, population growth is around 3 times the national average, it is a business friendly environment that attracts real talent, and it is a pretty affordable market relative to other similar locations in the nation. 

His job environment is not healthy, so he has been trying to find another job within the same field, just at a different establishment.

Not sure what is easier overall (cleaning versus buying and swapping) but I am fairly sure that cleanable is a little better for the environment and slightly cheaper (the filters are pretty cheap so we are probably on the order of $1 to $2 a month - negligible in the scheme of things).Good luck