The spike in prices certainly worked in our favor.

My question is, would it be smart to invest in this area with increasing crime, since there is such a huge spike in development right now?

If you're prepared to dig your heels in on the issue, your neighbor knew the tree existed prior to their purchase and now they are trying to change the rules of the game. 

Title can be the achilles heel on these transactions, so look into the title history?

Electric can also spike in the summer with A/C.

After a brief stall in activity as rates spiked over the past 3-4 months, rates have softened considerably and made returns more attractive. 

I am 41 and going to make my 40’s the decade I retire and transition into investing only .Real estate has spiked me as an employee it has me seeing things much differently .

@Andrew Spikes@Brad Hayden has got you well covered on this one. 

I thought I'd share this information from Black Knight Financial:December 22, 2022 Data & AnalyticsPrepayment activity in November dropped 15.6% to a single month mortality (SMM) rate of 0.40% – once again marking the lowest rate on record since before 2000 when Black Knight started reporting the metricThe national delinquency rate rose another 3.5% in November to 3.01%, up 10 basis points since October, driven by a 31K (+3.9%) increase in 30-day delinquencies and a 25K (+11%) rise in 60-day delinquenciesThe delinquency rate in Florida rose another 18 basis points in the month to 3.60% as the impact of Hurricane Ian on homeowners’ ability to make mortgage payments continuesImprovement among seriously past-due loans continues to stagnate, with the population of 90-day delinquencies ticking down -0.2% from the month priorForeclosure starts rose again (+19%) on the heels of October’s increase, but the month’s 23.4K starts are still below the recent high seen in June 2022 and remain 30% below pre-pandemic levelsForeclosure was started on 4.3% of serious delinquencies in November, up 7 basis points from October but still 44% less than the rate seen in the years leading up to the pandemicActive foreclosure inventory rose 5.3%, though 2022 volumes remain subdued after the record lows of 2021 due to widespread moratoriums and forbearance protections

Inflation hurts a lot more in a HCOL city than here even though our prices have spike.