Nobody really knows how stable the oil field will be but I can just about promise you, the oil field isn't going away in the near future, but it will probably be a roller coaster ride as in it's history.

In my opinion:Flippers - More of a roller coaster ride, one day you are going broke and the next day you have a huge pay day. 

The difference is that you won't see as much appreciation explosion in Pittsburgh, which is as you said not always a bad thing. 15 Properties in California today though (even with a roller coaster) would be a LOT of houses in Pittsburgh if they were in Oakland with that 14% appreciation or San Fran/Vallego with that 8% plus. 

The loan process is a nasty roller coaster. 

If you didn't have to get off the roller coaster, it went back up.  

It's going to be a roller coaster, but if you've ran the numbers and feel confident about the comps, go for it.    

Pragya Singh I'm sure you got it covered and have been in the same roller coaster a bunch of times, just pointing out it might be best to increase frequency of inspections, but that means more $ as well. hehe.

It will have it, the question is can you guess the optimum time to sell, AND, do you have the funds to hold til then no matter what the roller coaster takes you.

Remote work, all-time low mortgage rates, 9 Trillion Dollar Federal Reserve Balance sheet, massive drop in inventory, many investors cashing out of the stock market roller coaster.

I make more now than I did with my W2 job and have much more time with family and flexibility, but I also live on a roller coaster as projects stall, have surprises and now that the market is stalling out.