X’s card was declined and he is now late on a payment for his medium term rental.

@Camille Romero I would not buy a property in a city with a declining population.

To answer your question: yes, large studies released by the bigger brokerages have shown Phoenix and other sunbelt markets showing overall rent declines.

It is a fantastic time to buy for equity, but it will be extremely tough to cash flow as rental prices are continuing to decline.

They also both have declining population over the past 10 years.

We have seen a decline in occupancy and rental rates over the past couple of years because of competition in Gatlinburg, but through certain approaches, a place can still be very profitable 

I tend to decline applicant with an eviction. 

Population decline has slowed, and key neighborhoods are seeing real growth.

NAR Says - Existing home sales fall to lowest level in nearly 30 years and Median housing prices rose to a record high"The National Association of Realtors released data that showed existing home sales declined to the lowest level since 1995 last year, with 4.06 million homes sold on an annual basis.Meanwhile, the median home price median home price rose to a record high of $407,500 in 2024."

And, yes, there are years of data points to validate that just within my office, tens of thousands of dollars of wasted appraisal and inspection fees for deals (mostly not mine, thankfully) that had 0.00% of going anywhere but the "Loan Application Declined" bin.