Cleveland has been shrinking for 40-years...its the fall from a once great city that is hard to watch.

as a new real estate investor, I would personally suggest exploring turnkey properties. turnkey can do all of the management, tenanting, and take care of all landlord duties for you. it's a great segue in my opinion as you can learn through this experience and when you have more ability to sink time and capital into a property, then you can house hack and BRRRR. that's what i would do if i were new to REI and starting my portfolio. i think these are really good articles that can help you get started and answers your question if now is a good time to buy.https://blog.sharesfr.com/inve...https://blog.sharesfr.com/turn... it's really difficult to answer that question as there is no right or wrong time to buy. when numbers make sense for YOU that's the right time to buy. i am about to close on my 3rd investment property in the last 1.5 years in Atlanta and while i'm a landlord i don't have any of the landlord duties because i work with a turnkey company. i wont lie i was nervous about the interest rate hikes and mortgage qualifications but speaking on a very high level, it's about finding the properties that fit your criteria and that you can afford. i like to think about my properties in hindsight - if it's a good deal today then 90% of the time it'll become a great deal down the road. real estate is a long game, not for short term flips (with inventory shrinking it's getting very hard to find distressed properties you can renovate for cheap and still profit. you have to know the market, you have to know rental demand, you need quality tenants, you need to know how to refinance, etc.) if you want to chat further feel free to DM me! 

Population is shrinking and all the laws are in favor of the tenants. 

Have the tree guy bid to grind the one stump down and you put epsom salts on the stump which shrinks the roots. 

Kansas City urban core is shrinking like a lot of other midwest cities, suburbs are growing also like most suburbs.

@Eni Ang The risks of Ohio, or at least Cleveland: High property taxes, rust belt, still shrinking population - the long term trend, high unemployment.  

There should be local and portfolio lenders that will still lend but the terms will probably be more conservative and that could shrink your buyer pool if you end up flipping.

As you know, when you look at your first bill from a mortgage lender, the interest rate is going to be as high as 80% or more of the loan and that rate will shrink VERY slowly from month to month.And the banks know that when they amortize your loan It's going to take you 15 YEARS to pay off the first 15% of your principleMost folks don't stay in their homes over15 yearsIf you leave before you get to the end of those 15 years that you will never have your loan average out to that 4.5% that they tell you that you're going to get.

We are the state capital (I don't expect gov't to shrink any time soon), have a major military installment close by (Joint base Lewis-McChord), we have a port, timber, electronics, Amazon distribution center, etc...   

In the low chance a deal doesn't go through I'll just roll the hours spent on that one into the next one and the rebate to me on that one shrinks?