People telling you Cap Rate doesn't matter or is irrelevant...Ya, maybe boxing yourself in adhering to some dogmatic, artificial Cap hurdle you set while comparing properties- especially properties that aren't even commercial- isn't going to be that helpful.Being mindful of NOI vs your costs sure as hell is though

The 2% rates were artificially low and low for too long (yes it was great, but not normal).

If you keep the rents artificially low, your taxes, insurance and cost of maintenance and capex will continue to rise.

I know sellers typically inflate the price artificially because of the lower interest rate but it still seemed reasonable based on comps. 

Residential purchase and coop (TIC) to sell off some of asset to reduce investment to artificially reduced amount (Resulting equity at far less than value).  

Chicora, Cherokee, Union Heights, etc have all historically been great rental markets, but the opp zones have created artificial price increases that won't help you unless you're exchanging for tax purposes.

Thanks to the rise of the middle class and the country's transformation, there is real economic growth, people are getting wealthier and real estate becomes more affordable to them, which supports a healthy growth in property prices.Compare this to the saturated markets of the US or Canada, whose economies have been pretty much stagnant for decades and where the main if not only way to prop up already unaffordable property prices is by bringing the artificially low interest rates ever closer to 0.Converting a developing economy into a developed economy doesn't come without growing pains.

Does requiring sellers to pay buying agent commissions foster anticompetitive behavior and artificially inflate commissions (they will only show or favor listings with the highest commissions)?

@Mike DymskiUnfortunately investors are going crazy bidding up investment properties in my market and artificially driving up rents.Even with market rate rent and purchase price, the returns are not great in my market.

Interest received is interest income.Then there are collateral and foreclosure matters you need to look at.That's another, jack up the price issue, if the property comes back to you, as a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure, you'll be paying taxes on an artificial price, blue sky, and any sale later may not cover that, so it's a loss.