It would not be a terribly profitable industry, and a few large players (hopefully including my NewCo) would dominate the space.

Basically, they are terrible at investing but great at convincing investors to give them money.

They arent really allowed to turn you away, but they will push you away with terrible loan pricing and intentionally bad service. 

@Michael Smith, you wrote: "I am looking at finding a HELOC to replace my 30 year mortgage here in the near future...and the APR on my mortgage is 3.25%".Replacing your fixed 3.25%, with a variable HELOC seems to me: a TERRIBLE idea!

Listing photos were terrible, tenant vetting was lackadaisical, checks were sent to wrong addresses, tennants weren't properly vetted, charges for "mulch" and landscaping were charged but never physically carried out.

Or, the actual location could be terrible (like ghetto or drug area or war zone).

Now the 9% doesn't seem to be a terrible deal, but then I calculated the risks involved.

Some do a great job, many do okay, some do a terrible job. 

This sounds like a terrible deal, but not much info in hand.

I think they've really been helped by the full/partial telecommute, as it's not terrible if you had to go into the city once or twice a week, but if everyone goes back to full-on 5 day offices I think there will be some exodus.