In contrast, hard money lending usually comes from specialized lending firms or investors and focuses on the property's value rather than the borrower's creditworthiness, often featuring higher interest rates and shorter loan terms.

I am not against taking money from 401K for real estate as long as my rate of return in real estate is higher.

With our investing in lower-priced properties, we're far from being immune to these tax hits but can better absorb them with higher cash flow than most site-built single family homes.

I mentioned this to the tenant and gave him notice of the higher rent. 

Home prices are higher than they normally would be even in these tight market conditions.Tell me why!

For example, are lenders stricter about DSCR ratios, or do they require higher reserves?

@Irene Morgovsky what you are experiencing is that rents do NOT increase linearly with property values.Or look at it another way, the pool of renters that can afford higher & higher rents, shrinks faster than a corresponding pool of buyers.You could look into making it a short-term rental to try to improve rental income, but:1) Is it allowed in that area2) STR rates are coming downYou may have to accept "negative income" or sell.

I'm currently looking for a multifamily property, ideally with 10+ units and a cap rate of 7% or higher.

I'm not sure how much your leverage your lender offers, but you may be able to enough cash out if you use higher leverage.

I will say, with furnished rentals, it takes time and money to fully furnish them with all the bells and whistles but it did allow me to get higher rents... only downside is, if you are out of state, it is not easy to manage remote unless you have a good property manager/company.I have personally started to transition out of STRs due to zoning/town regulations and have already unfurnished one of the apartments to turn it into a long rental for more stable residual income.