@David Sohn It depends on what your purchase price is.

"there are plenty of reasons why a landlord should care who is looking at their property, theft and their own personal safety being the first 2 that spring to mind, followed closely by not wanting to waste their time" These are valid reasons but depend greatly on your market and who is showing the property. 

The precise property forecast can vary depending on a lot of factors but the general demand is really what you should use the tool for to make your plans. 

Some investors are better at doing their research, financials, and taxes than others - it depends on the investor....

It probably depends on the market or property.

Depending on the salaries of the new jobs they may also price out the local residents on new home sales which would further drive up the price.

A home loan is made via the note with a Mortgage/DOT (depending on state) attached as the security instrument, which allows the home to serve as collateral if the note is not upheld.

I have a couple STR investors do this here in the winter months depending on the events coming to town

This doesn't come cheap--these folks were making high six to seven figures depending on volume.We focused on lending to professional real estate investors--so our customers were frequent repeat borrowers. 

You can do a duplex though, which might not be a bad idea.With your credit score, conventional might be a good choice, you only need 5% down for 2-4 units if you live in one.