It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require extra, on-going effort to maintain.

Even if they have cash, the management expectations + distance will usually make it more of a hassle unless you are really buying it for you to use and rent out whenever safely.

I usually advise folks moving to a new area to rent for awhile to get the lay of the land.

If curious, here are the last two: Jan 2023: Multifamily Real Estate is At Risk of CrashingFeb 2024: Multifamily is at High Risk of Continuing It's Historic CrashI think that the title for my 2025 analysis (likely Jan/Feb publication will be something more like:Multifamily is Finally Going to Hit Rock Bottom in Q2/Q3 2025 - Get Ready to Buy a LOT of itAs usual, I like to publish my draft thoughts here to get input from key players in the space and these forums, especially folks like @Brian Burke, to see if I am missing any high level areas, before I get into the weeds and look at the data more deeply and regionally. 

These areas tend to attract more reliable, long-term tenants who are usually more financially stable and take better care of the property.

I usually print out the market rent provided by Zillow and a few other websites. 

Very refreshing to see such a great and clear plan and attitude.. net work=>net worth  usually:)

Otherwise, you won't have the extra funds necessary to cover the rising costs of goods and services in the future.What causes rents (and prices) to increase?

We are also considering an investment property loan so we could then stay in our current place and then rent out our 2nd property.Thats a good thing to keep in mind about STR revenue.How do you usually run your numbers and know what revenue to expect before buying a property?

Keep in mind that legitimate players here will usually finance you out of the deal as soon as they are able unless your terms are better than what they can get from trad financing.