Properties at that  time were artificially high because people bought at a loss to write them off on personal income taxes.

With poor supply and too many dollars and little substitutes the prices artificially increase even thought satisfaction is the same like with basic items like milk or bread.Supply and demand will also drive prices.

The amount of cash invested in the property increases as you pay down debt; so, using the original cash invested at any point after origination will artificially inflate your returns.The reason I mentioned cap rate terminology is that there are BP members who like to debate on the fact that cap rate technically is a market value metric (NOI/market value not NOI/purchase price) and that it is only applicable to 5+ unit properties since SFRs are valued based on comps rather than based on NOI.  

What I consider real gambling is buying TK properties and underestimating PM costs, underestimating long-term cap-ex costs, underestimating tenant turnover costs and also believing everything the provider says....not to mention, purchasing an SFR in an area with demographics primarily composed of renters and a median income that will never drive up SFR prices (which typically happens when neighborhoods are predominantly owner-occupied), and in the middle of neighborhoods whose appraisals are artificially inflated by other TK property transactions.

My two cents for the others on the posts lurking for the artificial profit numbers is not to attempt a graduate school  exam when you are not ready for elementary school HW.

They artificially drive good deals to a highest and best offer based on analysis that is shallow at best and straight up baseless at worst.

That isn't the definition of a bubble, it's the definition of the opposite of a bubble (market forces creating price instead of artificial prices).

There are many "big name" wholesalers doing several deals a month in Phoenix who artificially inflate and deflate numbers when selling.

There's just no way to artificially manufacture that feeling of being under the gun, and how much you can learn in a short time when you're under pressure.  

Interesting how this went from an article about how companies may be using aggregated data to artificially manipulate a market to "Seattle is a cesspool".....This is a RE website filled with landlords and property owners..... who would have imagined what opinion would be rendered.