I am a very conservative investor so I’m my option numbers are starting to get tight for people to actually be able to afford rent, but on the other side there is such a shortage of rentals.  

People will squeeze in with friends and family members to make it through hard times, but the shortage will continue unless they drastically ramp up new home construction.

As inventory has a shortage, these properties are moving eastward and competition has continued to fuel property value increase.

However, in the case of CA, they have been holding for decades ... there has been a chronic shortage of housing and the conditions that cause that are not likely to go away ... the weather is nice so lots of people want to live here (strong demand), the economy is diversified with high paying jobs (strong demand), you can't build into the ocean (limited supply), there are practically no empty buildable lots unless you go way inland (limited supply), environmental and strict building regulations make new construction difficult/costly (limited supply) ...

I believe that a West Seattle buy and hold position is still a good one (especially with the new light rail station going in on Delridge) but I personally am more interested in the Snoqualmie Valley where there is a massive rental shortage and increasing demand. 

If there seems to be a shortage of 3 bedroom houses, then it might be worth it. 

Cons: TAXES (holy cow taxes are high on the cape), high cost property (median is now around $650k I believe, expect to pay closer to $1.5M minimum or much more for the more desirable locations such as on the waterfront), relatively short season with summer being the time when you’d make the bulk of your earnings (although it’s less seasonal than you might think and units will rent relatively well all the way up through Christmas before demand finally does drop off a cliff), high utility costs (don’t forget to factor in the cost for AC at a beach house, with doors opening and closing all day, in a region with high cost/kWh for electricity, also expensive to heat in winter), hard to find labor (major shortage of cleaners, tradespeople, etc on the cape currently), high property maintenance costs (beach houses take a beating: sand, salt, big parties, hurricanes, tough weather, long winters, etc. and expect to pay a premium for both labor and materials on the cape), HOAs (high fees, rental restrictions), traffic, taxes, and taxes.

If you are looking for something closer to Azle, Granbury currently has a rental shortage.

From what I have seen, there is a bit of rental shortage here. 

The supply chain issues and labor shortage are definitely real.