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 

Two, more importantly, it works now in certain parts of the country because of their low capital cost basis and more importantly, the current low-interest environment, which allows them to own SFR as rentals with bare positive cash flow in lower-priced markets.

I'm new to BP and so far love the environment.

What if this creates an environment where people I don't know are soliciting property owners in my name?

But yes, I think in today's lending environment a lot of banks/lenders will look at rental income as part of your DTI.