My only concern is the rising rate environment and the impending economic slowdown many economists are expecting (granted they have been saying this for the past 12-18 months), and what impact this could have on getting overly levered.

I doubt they will extend it to the "A" lending portfolio as many of them have thriving "B" portfolios due to the extremely difficult lending environment the federal government has created in an attempt to help the affordable housing problem that was created by them in the first place. 

We have also built a relationship with members of the historical society, which has allowed us to operate in this challenging environment.

Also, this is going to sound rather controversial but I've been formulating this theory for a while but I don't think that the 1% rule applies to the Boston area and here is why:That is a rule of thumb to use in a cash flow environment.

You would be borrowing pre-tax funds and paying loan back with after-tax dollars at 5% that you could invest in tax-deferred environment and grow your wealth at 10%+ rate (there are many opportunities that would allow you to earn at least that such as private lending, syndication, note fund, etc).

That said there are always underlying factors that make markets or environments better than other times.  

Add to this the uniquely corrupt bureaucratic environment of Baltimore City, Maryland (where I grew up)--and its creaky, barely functioning housing-voucher machinery. 

@Rodolfo Canon I would second this - while I'm super new to the world of REI, I have been to a class that Chris, Charles and Joe put on and the info was great, environment was fun and it was a great way to network locally.

I've been running a marketing business remotely for several years, so I actually prefer the virtual environment.

But even these deals feel a lot like musical chairs... buy, force a bit of appreciation and hope someone will pay a lot more at a compressed cap rate in an interest rate rising environment