The type of tenant you deal with will make all the difference.Realize you will have some out of pocket expenses from time to time but if you self manage it might be ok.As time goes on rents should increase and your payment will shrink proportionately.

is the opportunity, on average, is shrinking (a.k.a. buy now) or expanding (wait a bit)?

Ask them if they are flipping a property if they would be willing to walk you through it and explain what they found and see as issues . . . a lunch offer can often make you a valuable friend in the local game.As others have said, this is a strange market we are in and as interest rates continue to climb, the pool of eventual buyers for your property will shrink with more properties sitting on the market for longer periods of time. 

If this keeps up and more employers get rid of mass amounts of people, based on current data %'s maybe we will see a 13% to 18% shrink in rents or sales price in some areas.I assume lending/banking will be the next industry to announce major layoffs, then health care as insurance is canceled.

The probability with texting shrinks tremendously 

What you likely will find is that there is a housing shortage in the class A and B cities where the jobs are and a housing surplus in cities and towns with shrinking populations and fewer jobs.

., that's typically a 9-12% guaranteeded ROI on your down payment.Tax write offs: the more the better.The more you focus on cash flow, the more the other 3 will shrink and vice versa.

There is a lot of paid research you can subscribe to and you can predict housing economics on a macro level pretty well, but you can't account for short term, black-swan type events like covid.Unless the US population suddenly shrinks by 20% or we find a way to will 5 million housing units into existence, supply/demand will continue to create upward pressure on price.

Margins have been shrinking the past few years.

In my area that much shade on the roof promotes moss which shrinks roof life.