That way if the market tanks at any point I will sleep like a baby and the cash register will still be ringing.I think I mentioned before Las Vegas may not look as good on paper for returns as some of those other areas, but I don't look at just the return I look at the entire picture which includes the property itself, the location, the potential tenant base, the management, the city economics (demographics, growth, taxes, COL, etc), and even the city itself would I live there, the distance from me, etc. 

I’ve gotten half the usual number of applicants on two of my rentals for 2018 as in the previous 5 years on average.So much for our “emergency housing crisis”

Definitely a balance between the economics and soft skills.

A "rich" investor is not likely to have wasted the $100k they borrowed against their 100 yo investment property, and they likely won't be concerned at all about the vagaries of the economic cycle which could technically place them "underwater" for that property, because, they will have a large portfolio of diversified properties, and will only be leveraged at around 75% of their current book value, which means that the economy would need to to take a really steep dive for their $135k property to become only worth $50k.

Economic Vacancy is usually much higher than the standard 5% physical vacancy assumption.Good Luck!

Low life’s can be in any economic sector it seems.

From the lens of a REI newb, I've been reviewing various regional and state info re: RE & economic about Vermont. 

To get an initial feel for a market I recommend looking at:Population growthAverage Income growthProperty value growthRatio of property owners to rentersDemographicsLarge economic drivers (Hospitals, Army bases, Universities, other large employers)Street view on Google mapsYou can find all of this information with a Google search. 

According to most strategies out there for investors, it is best to bump up expenses to 50% and vacancies to 10% so if anything happens like an economic downturn or something breaks I wont lose my shirt.So for my analysis I bumped up the expenses (to 50%) and vacancies (to 10%).

With those numbers I would cashflow $2,969 per year with current rents from year 1.According to most strategies out there for investors, it is best to bump up expenses to 50% and vacancies to 10% so if anything happens like an economic downturn or something breaks I wont lose my shirt.So for my analysis I bumped up the expenses (to 50%) and vacancies (to 10%).